In This Article:
Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card!
We've lost count of how many times insiders have accumulated shares in a company that goes on to improve markedly. 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 before you buy or sell China Gas Holdings Limited (HKG:384), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.
What Is Insider Selling?
Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock on the market. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market.
We don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions. But equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. As Peter Lynch said, 'insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise.'
See our latest analysis for China Gas Holdings
The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At China Gas Holdings
In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the VP, Finance Director & Executive Director, Weiwei Zhu, sold HK$36m worth of shares at a price of HK$27.26 per share. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of HK$27.85, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent valuation. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. This single sale was just 16.4% of Weiwei Zhu's stake.
Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid HK$64m for 2.5m shares. On the other hand they divested 5.5m shares, for HK$151m. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of China Gas Holdings shares, than buying. You can see the insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!
If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.
Insiders at China Gas Holdings Have Sold Stock Recently
There was substantially more insider selling, than buying, of China Gas Holdings shares over the last three months. In total, Weiwei Zhu sold HK$81m worth of shares in that time. Meanwhile Executive Chairman Ming Liu bought HK$7.4m worth. Generally this level of net selling might be considered a bit bearish.