Starz Entertainment President Acquires 3.0% More Stock

Investors who take an interest in Starz Entertainment Corp. (NASDAQ:STRZ) should definitely note that the President, Jeffrey Hirsch, recently paid US$22.13 per share to buy US$111k worth of the stock. Although the purchase only increased their holding by 3.0%, it is still a solid purchase in our view.

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The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Starz Entertainment

The Non-Executive Chair, Michael Burns, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$2.1m worth of shares at a price of US$11.76 each. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even below the current price of US$24.32. 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. 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 71% of Michael Burns's stake.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 63.96k shares worth US$1.1m. But they sold 314.79k shares for US$3.9m. All up, insiders sold more shares in Starz Entertainment than they bought, over the last year. The sellers received a price of around US$12.45, on average. It's not particularly great to see insiders were selling shares at below recent prices. Of course, the sales could be motivated for a multitude of reasons, so we shouldn't jump to conclusions. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

View our latest analysis for Starz Entertainment

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Insider Ownership Of Starz Entertainment

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. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Starz Entertainment insiders own about US$11m worth of shares. That equates to 2.6% of the company. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Starz Entertainment Insiders?

Unfortunately, there has been more insider selling of Starz Entertainment stock, than buying, in the last three months. Despite some insider buying, the longer term picture doesn't make us feel much more positive. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. We're in no rush to buy! While it's good to be aware of what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. You'd be interested to know, that we found 2 warning signs for Starz Entertainment and we suggest you have a look.

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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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