EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:EYPT) value has fallen 17% in the last week, but insiders who sold US$1.4m worth of stock over the last year have had less success. Given that the average selling price of US$22.28 is still lower than the current share price, insiders would probably have been better off keeping their shares.

While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At EyePoint Pharmaceuticals

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Vice Chair, Nancy Lurker, sold US$874k worth of shares at a price of US$24.98 per share. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. The good news is that this large sale was at well above current price of US$8.96. So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 23.24k shares for US$185k. On the other hand they divested 61.55k shares, for US$1.4m. In total, EyePoint Pharmaceuticals insiders sold more than they bought over the last year. 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!

If you like to buy stocks that insiders are buying, rather than selling, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: Most of them are flying under the radar).

Does EyePoint Pharmaceuticals Boast High Insider Ownership?

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. From looking at our data, insiders own US$4.3m worth of EyePoint Pharmaceuticals stock, about 0.7% of the company. I generally like to see higher levels of ownership.

So What Do The EyePoint Pharmaceuticals Insider Transactions Indicate?

There haven't been any insider transactions in the last three months -- that doesn't mean much. We don't take much encouragement from the transactions by EyePoint Pharmaceuticals insiders. And we're not picking up on high enough insider ownership to give us any comfort. 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. For instance, we've identified 4 warning signs for EyePoint Pharmaceuticals (2 are a bit concerning) you should be aware of.

Of course EyePoint Pharmaceuticals may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality 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.