BlueScope Steel Sees Insider Stock Selling

From what we can see, insiders were net sellers in BlueScope Steel Limited's (ASX:BSL ) during the past 12 months. That is, insiders sold the stock in greater numbers than they purchased it.

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.

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BlueScope Steel Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The MD, CEO & Executive Director, Mark Vassella, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for AU$1.7m worth of shares at a price of AU$23.14 each. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of AU$23.66, 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 6.8% of Mark Vassella's holding. Mark Vassella was the only individual insider to sell over the last year.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 8.74k shares worth AU$200k. But they sold 71.70k shares for AU$1.7m. 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!

Check out our latest analysis for BlueScope Steel

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

Insider Ownership Of BlueScope Steel

I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It appears that BlueScope Steel insiders own 0.4% of the company, worth about AU$43m. 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 BlueScope Steel Insider Transactions Indicate?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded BlueScope Steel shares in the last quarter. Our analysis of BlueScope Steel insider transactions leaves us cautious. The modest level of insider ownership is, at least, some comfort. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing BlueScope Steel. At Simply Wall St, we've found that BlueScope Steel has 3 warning signs (1 doesn't sit too well with us!) that deserve your attention before going any further with your analysis.

Of course BlueScope Steel may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.

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 of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

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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.