Insider buying is often regarded as a bullish indicator as few people should know a company better than its own directors.
The idea is that if they have the confidence to buy shares, it could be a sign that things are going well and they expect them to appreciate in value.
Conversely, when directors sell shares it is often regarded as a bearish indicator as you'd be unlikely to sell shares if you felt they were about to increase in value.
With that in mind, here are three shares which have recently experienced notable insider selling:
Aventus Group (ASX: AVN)
According a change of director's interest notice, a non-executive director of this fully-integrated owner, manager and developer of large format retail centres has been selling shares. The notice reveals that Brett Blundy offloaded a total of 908,328 shares through on-market trades over the space of two trading days last week. Mr Blundy received $2.25 per stapled security or a total consideration of approximately $2 million. I wouldn't be concerned by this selling, though, as Mr Blundy still holds a considerable 145,462,998 stapled securities.
Costa Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: CGC)
A change of director's interest notice reveals that this horticulture company's CEO, Harry Debney, has been selling shares on-market recently. According to the notice, Mr Debney offloaded 825,000 ordinary shares through on-market trades on March 11 and March 12 for an average of $5.28 per share or a total consideration of $4.36 million. Then on March 15 the CEO exercised 616,944 new CEO options for an average of $2.81 per share or a total of $1.73 million. Costa advised that Mr Debney sold the shares "for the purposes of funding the exercise of options" and "to meet income tax obligations, namely from the 2017/18 year for exercising two tranches of options and associated share sales." Mr Debney still has an interest of 1,149,270 shares (directly and indirectly) after these sales.
InvoCare Limited (ASX: IVC)
Non-executive director and former CEO, Richard Davis, has been selling more of this funeral company's shares. According to the change of director's interest notice, Mr Davis sold a total of 50,000 InvoCare shares through on-market trades on March 12 and March 13. The director received an average of $13.80 per share or a total consideration of $690,000. This sale means the former CEO now owns 210,000 shares, compared to the 521,607 shares he owned two years ago.
