Although Acelyrin, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLRN) shareholders have enjoyed a great week with the stock up 13%, insiders who sold stock over the past year haven't fared as well. The return on their investment would have been much higher had they held on to their stock.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Acelyrin

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the insider, Shao-Lee Lin, for US$119k worth of shares, at about US$7.60 per share. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. The silver lining is that this sell-down took place above the latest price (US$4.82). So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it. Shao-Lee Lin was the only individual insider to sell shares in the last twelve months.

Shao-Lee Lin sold a total of 36.35k shares over the year at an average price of US$7.28. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

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Acelyrin Insiders Are Selling The Stock

The last quarter saw substantial insider selling of Acelyrin shares. In total, insider Shao-Lee Lin dumped US$66k 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 Of Acelyrin

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Insiders own 3.9% of Acelyrin shares, worth about US$18m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Acelyrin Tell Us?

An insider sold Acelyrin shares recently, but they didn't buy any. And there weren't any purchases to give us comfort, over the last year. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. We'd practice some caution before buying! While we like knowing 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. To help with this, we've discovered 5 warning signs (3 are potentially serious!) that you ought to be aware of before buying any shares in Acelyrin.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting 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.