Insiders seem to have made the most of their holdings by selling US$1.5m worth of Momentus Inc. (NASDAQ:MNTS) stock at an average sell price of US$7.58 during the past year. After the stock price dropped 11% last week, the company's market value declined by US$43m, but insiders were able to mitigate their losses.
Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.
The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Momentus
In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the President, Fred Kennedy, sold US$581k worth of shares at a price of US$7.58 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$4.18. So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price. It should also be noted that this sale were performend by the company for tax withholding purposes. This occurs automatically, and the company insider doesn't net anything from these sales.
Insiders in Momentus 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!
If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.
Momentus Insiders Are Selling The Stock
Over the last three months, we've seen significant insider selling at Momentus. In total, insiders sold US$1.5m worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. Overall this makes us a bit cautious, but it's not the be all and end all.
Insider Ownership
Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Our data isn't picking up on much insider ownership at Momentus, though insiders do hold about US$673k worth of shares. However, it's possible that insiders might have an indirect interest through a more complex structure. We might be missing something but that seems like very low insider ownership.
So What Does This Data Suggest About Momentus Insiders?
Insiders sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. And even if we look at the last year, we didn't see any purchases. Insiders own relatively few shares in the company, and when you consider the sales, we're not particularly excited about the stock. We'd certainly 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. To that end, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Momentus (including 1 which is significant) .
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, but not derivative transactions.
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