President of Xenon Pharmaceuticals Picks Up 88% More Stock
Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:XENE) shareholders (or potential shareholders) will be happy to see that the President, Ian Mortimer, recently bought a whopping US$1.1m worth of stock, at a price of US$37.38. That purchase boosted their holding by 88%, which makes us wonder if the move was inspired by quietly confident deeply-felt optimism.
The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Xenon Pharmaceuticals
Notably, that recent purchase by Ian Mortimer is the biggest insider purchase of Xenon Pharmaceuticals shares that we've seen in the last year. That implies that an insider found the current price of US$38.02 per share to be enticing. Of course they may have changed their mind. But this suggests they are optimistic. We do always like to see insider buying, but it is worth noting if those purchases were made at well below today's share price, as the discount to value may have narrowed with the rising price. The good news for Xenon Pharmaceuticals share holders is that insiders were buying at near the current price.
Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$3.4m for 90.00k shares. But they sold 17.07k shares for US$1.1m. In the last twelve months there was more buying than selling by Xenon Pharmaceuticals insiders. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!
View our latest analysis for Xenon Pharmaceuticals
There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. If investing in lesser known companies is your style, you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).
Insider Ownership Of Xenon Pharmaceuticals
Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. From looking at our data, insiders own US$4.4m worth of Xenon Pharmaceuticals stock, about 0.1% of the company. I generally like to see higher levels of ownership.
So What Do The Xenon Pharmaceuticals Insider Transactions Indicate?
It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchases. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. But we don't feel the same about the fact the company is making losses. We would certainly prefer see higher levels of insider ownership but analysis of the insider transactions suggests that Xenon Pharmaceuticals insiders are expecting a bright future. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Xenon Pharmaceuticals. For instance, we've identified 4 warning signs for Xenon Pharmaceuticals (1 is significant) you should be aware of.
But note: Xenon Pharmaceuticals may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.
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.