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We often see insiders buying up shares in companies that perform well over the long term. On the other hand, we’d be remiss not to mention that insider sales have been known to precede tough periods for a business. So shareholders might well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Xinhua News Media Holdings Limited (HKG:309).

What Is Insider Selling?

It’s quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, rules govern insider transactions, and certain disclosures are required.

Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. For example, a Columbia University study found that ‘insiders are more likely to engage in open market purchases of their own company’s stock when the firm is about to reveal new agreements with customers and suppliers’.

See our latest analysis for Xinhua News Media Holdings

Xinhua News Media Holdings Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when Kin Ming Cheng sold HK$35m worth of shares at a price of HK$0.25 per share. That is hardly a positive sign, even though it took place above the latest price (HK$0.18). So it may not shed much light on insider confidence at current levels. Kin Ming Cheng was the only individual insider to sell over the last year.

Kin Ming Cheng sold a total of 150.65m shares over the year at an average price of HK$0.25. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

I will like Xinhua News Media Holdings better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Insider Ownership

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It appears that Xinhua News Media Holdings insiders own 39% of the company, worth about HK$115m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Xinhua News Media Holdings Insiders?

The fact that there have been no Xinhua News Media Holdings insider transactions recently certainly doesn’t bother us. It’s heartening that insiders own plenty of stock, but we’d like to see more insider buying, since the last year of Xinhua News Media Holdings insider transactions don’t fill us with confidence. Along with insider transactions, I recommend checking if Xinhua News Media Holdings is growing revenue. This free chart of historic revenue and earnings should make that easy.

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.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.