Insiders seem to have made the most of their holdings by selling US$222k worth of Ventyx Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:VTYX) stock at an average sell price of US$2.44 during the past year. The company's market valuation decreased by US$108m after the stock price dropped 32% over the past week, but insiders were spared from painful losses.
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.
Ventyx Biosciences Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Founder, Raju Mohan, sold US$125k worth of shares at a price of US$2.12 per share. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$3.29, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. 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. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. We note that the biggest single sale was only 3.6% of Raju Mohan's holding.
In the last year Ventyx Biosciences insiders didn't buy any company stock. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!
I will like Ventyx Biosciences better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of undervalued and small cap stocks with considerable, recent, insider buying.
Insiders At Ventyx Biosciences Have Sold Stock Recently
We have seen a bit of insider selling at Ventyx Biosciences, over the last three months. Insiders sold just US$49k worth of shares in that time. It's not great to see insider selling, nor the lack of recent buyers. But the volume sold is so low that it really doesn't bother us.
Insider Ownership
For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Ventyx Biosciences insiders own about US$12m worth of shares. That equates to 3.1% 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 Do The Ventyx Biosciences Insider Transactions Indicate?
We did not see any insider buying in the last three months, but we did see selling. But given the selling was modest, we're not worried. We're a little cautious about the insider selling at Ventyx Biosciences. But we do like the fact that insiders own a fair chunk of the company. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Ventyx Biosciences. Case in point: We've spotted 4 warning signs for Ventyx Biosciences you should be aware of, and 2 of them don't sit too well with us.
If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity 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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