Looking at Neoleukin Therapeutics, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:NLTX ) insider transactions over the last year, we can see that insiders were net buyers. That is, there were more number of shares purchased by insiders than there were sold.
Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.
View our latest analysis for Neoleukin Therapeutics
The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Neoleukin Therapeutics
The CEO, President Jonathan Drachman made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$934k worth of shares at a price of US$6.45 each. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being US$0.99). While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock when an insider has bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price. Jonathan Drachman was the only individual insider to buy shares in the last twelve months.
The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!
There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.
Insider Ownership of Neoleukin Therapeutics
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. It appears that Neoleukin Therapeutics insiders own 21% of the company, worth about US$9.0m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.
So What Do The Neoleukin Therapeutics Insider Transactions Indicate?
The fact that there have been no Neoleukin Therapeutics insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. However, our analysis of transactions over the last year is heartening. Overall we don't see anything to make us think Neoleukin Therapeutics insiders are doubting the company, and they do own shares. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 5 warning signs for Neoleukin Therapeutics (of which 2 are a bit unpleasant!) you should know about.