We'd be surprised if Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. (NYSE:BBW) shareholders haven't noticed that the Chief Administrative Officer, Eric Fencl, recently sold US$366k worth of stock at US$40.28 per share. On the bright side, that sale was only 6.6% of their holding, so we doubt it's very meaningful, on its own.

Build-A-Bear Workshop Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The President, Sharon John, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$1.7m worth of shares at a price of US$35.19 each. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$42.50, 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. It is worth noting that this sale was only 10% of Sharon John's holding.

Insiders in Build-A-Bear Workshop didn't buy any shares in the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart 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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Insider Ownership Of Build-A-Bear Workshop

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Insiders own 7.7% of Build-A-Bear Workshop shares, worth about US$42m. 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 Build-A-Bear Workshop Insider Transactions Indicate?

Insiders sold Build-A-Bear Workshop shares recently, but they didn't buy any. And there weren't any purchases to give us comfort, over the last year. But it is good to see that Build-A-Bear Workshop is growing earnings. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. We'd practice some caution before buying! So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. For example - Build-A-Bear Workshop has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.

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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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