Some Savaria Corporation (TSE:SIS) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the Executive Chairman of the Board, Marcel Bourassa, recently sold a substantial CA$85m worth of stock at a price of CA$28.35 per share. That's a big disposal, and it decreased their holding size by 26%, which is notable but not too bad.
Savaria Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
Notably, that recent sale by Marcel Bourassa is the biggest insider sale of Savaria shares that we've seen in the last year. That means that even when the share price was slightly below the current price of CA$28.67, 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 26% of Marcel Bourassa's holding.
Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid CA$5.7m for 217.10k shares. On the other hand they divested 3.16m shares, for CA$90m. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Savaria shares, than buying. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!
Check out our latest analysis for Savaria
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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. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It's great to see that Savaria insiders own 17% of the company, worth about CA$348m. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.
What Might The Insider Transactions At Savaria Tell Us?
Insiders haven't bought Savaria stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn't give us much comfort. On the plus side, Savaria makes money, and is growing profits. While insiders do own a lot of shares in the company (which is good), our analysis of their transactions doesn't make us feel confident about the company. 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. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Savaria 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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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.