Quite a few Pacific Basin Shipping Limited (HKG:2343) insiders sold their shares over the past year, which may be a cause for concern. Knowing whether insiders are buying is usually more helpful when evaluating insider transactions, as insider selling can have various explanations. However, if numerous insiders are selling, shareholders should investigate more.

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.

View our latest analysis for Pacific Basin Shipping

Pacific Basin Shipping Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the insider, Peter Schulz, sold HK$3.2m worth of shares at a price of HK$3.16 per share. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place at a lower price. It's of some comfort that this sale was conducted at a price well above the current share price, which is HK$2.44. So it may not shed much light on insider confidence at current levels.

All up, insiders sold more shares in Pacific Basin Shipping than they bought, over 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!

For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Does Pacific Basin Shipping 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. Our data indicates that Pacific Basin Shipping insiders own about HK$45m worth of shares (which is 0.4% of the company). We do generally prefer see higher levels of insider ownership.

So What Do The Pacific Basin Shipping Insider Transactions Indicate?

There haven't been any insider transactions in the last three months -- that doesn't mean much. Still, the insider transactions at Pacific Basin Shipping in the last 12 months are not very heartening. But we do like the fact that insiders own a fair chunk of the company. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Pacific Basin Shipping. Be aware that Pacific Basin Shipping is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those is significant...

Of course Pacific Basin Shipping 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.