Many The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) insiders ditched their stock over the past year, which may be of interest to the company’s shareholders. When evaluating insider transactions, knowing whether insiders are buying is usually more beneficial than knowing whether they are selling, as the latter can be open to many interpretations. However, if numerous insiders are selling, shareholders should investigate more.
While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.
View our latest analysis for Goldman Sachs Group
In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the insider, John F. Rogers, sold US$6.9m worth of shares at a price of US$468 per share. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$511, 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. This single sale was just 13% of John F. Rogers’s stake.
In total, Goldman Sachs Group insiders sold more than they bought over the last year. The average sell price was around US$445. We don’t gain confidence from insider selling below the recent share price. But we wouldn’t put too much weight on the insider selling. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!
For those who like to find hidden gems this free list of small cap companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.
There was substantially more insider selling, than buying, of Goldman Sachs Group shares over the last three months. In that time, insiders dumped US$5.1m worth of shares. On the flip side, Independent Director Mark Flaherty spent US$30k on purchasing shares (as mentioned above) . Because the selling vastly outweighs the buying, we’d say this is a somewhat bearish sign.
Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Goldman Sachs Group insiders own 0.5% of the company, currently worth about US$823m based on the recent share price. I like to see this level of insider ownership, because it increases the chances that management are thinking about the best interests of shareholders.
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