Have Insiders Sold Argent Industrial Limited (JSE:ART) Shares Recently?

Investors may wish to note that the CEO & Executive Director of Argent Industrial Limited, Treve Hendry, recently netted R477k from selling stock, receiving an average price of R13.85. However we note that the sale only shrunk their holding by 1.4%.

See our latest analysis for Argent Industrial

Argent Industrial Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Financial Director & Executive Director, Susan Cox, sold R2.5m worth of shares at a price of R12.00 per share. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of R13.77, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. We generally consider it a negative if insiders have been selling, especially if they did so below the current price, because it implies that they considered a lower price to be reasonable. Please do note, however, that sellers may have a variety of reasons for selling, so we don’t know for sure what they think of the stock price. We note that the biggest single sale was only 14% of Susan Cox’s holding.

In total, Argent Industrial insiders sold more than they bought over the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

If you like to buy stocks that insiders are buying, rather than selling, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Does Argent Industrial Boast High Insider Ownership?

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Insiders own 22% of Argent Industrial shares, worth about R176m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it’s enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Argent Industrial Insiders?

Insiders sold stock recently, but they haven’t been buying. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn’t give us much comfort. But since Argent Industrial is profitable and growing, we’re not too worried by this. It is good to see high insider ownership, but the insider selling leaves us cautious. While we like knowing what’s going on with the insider’s ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. While conducting our analysis, we found that Argent Industrial has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore this.

If you would prefer to check out another company — one with potentially superior financials — then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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