Some Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the Co-Founder, Gleb Budman, recently sold a substantial US$1.6m worth of stock at a price of US$10.66 per share. However, it's crucial to note that they remain very much invested in the stock and that sale only reduced their holding by 8.3%.
Backblaze Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
In fact, the recent sale by Gleb Budman was the biggest sale of Backblaze shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place at a lower price. The good news is that this large sale was at well above current price of US$9.95. So it may not shed much light on insider confidence at current levels.
Insiders in Backblaze didn't buy any shares in 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 are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.
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. Backblaze insiders own about US$150m worth of shares (which is 39% of the company). This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.
So What Do The Backblaze Insider Transactions Indicate?
An insider hasn't bought Backblaze stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. And there weren't any purchases to give us comfort, over the last year. The company boasts high insider ownership, but we're a little hesitant, given the history of share sales. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Backblaze. While conducting our analysis, we found that Backblaze has 4 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore them.
But note: Backblaze may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.
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.