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Assembly Biosciences Repeat Insider Selling Not A Positive Indicator
Quite a few Assembly Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASMB) insiders sold their shares over the past year, which may be a cause for concern. Knowing whether insiders are buying is usually more helpful when evaluating insider transactions, as insider selling can have various explanations. However, when multiple insiders sell stock over a specific duration, shareholders should take notice as that could possibly be a red flag.
While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.
The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Assembly Biosciences
In fact, the recent sale by Jason Okazaki was the biggest sale of Assembly Biosciences shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$21.79, 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 17% of Jason Okazaki's holding.
In the last year Assembly Biosciences insiders didn't buy any company stock. 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!
View our latest analysis for Assembly Biosciences
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Assembly Biosciences Insiders Are Selling The Stock
Over the last three months, we've seen significant insider selling at Assembly Biosciences. Specifically, insiders ditched US$238k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. This may suggest that some insiders think that the shares are not cheap.
Insider Ownership
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. Insiders own 3.2% of Assembly Biosciences shares, worth about US$13m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.
So What Do The Assembly Biosciences Insider Transactions Indicate?
Insiders haven't bought Assembly Biosciences stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. And even if we look at the last year, we didn't see any purchases. 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. When we did our research, we found 4 warning signs for Assembly Biosciences (2 are a bit unpleasant!) that we believe deserve your full attention.
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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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