Guess which ASX 300 director dumped over $17 million worth of his company's shares this week

Investors rarely like to see the directors of an ASX 300 share they own dump out of their own company's shares.

If directors are being paid to manage the finances of a company, it doesn't exactly instil confidence when said directors reduce their own financial exposure to the company they are managing. Yet that's exactly what is happening with Bellevue Gold Ltd (ASX: BGL).

Bellevue Gold is an ASX 300 gold exploration share. Its flagship asset is the eponymous Bellevue Gold Project, located in Western Australia. On Tuesday this week, Bellevue released an ASX announcement that revealed one of its directors has just sold a large tranche of shares.

According to the announcement, the director in question is Steve Parsons. Parsons sold exactly 17 million Bellevue shares on 20 February this month. The average price Parsons received for this parcel of shares was $1.05 each. So this transaction was worth around $17.85 million. Bellevue Gold is currently trading at $1.027 a share at the time of writing, up 1.18% so far today.

This sale reduces Parsons' shareholdings by approximately 50%. He still owns just over 16.5 million ordinary shares, as well as several million performance rights of varying natures. On top of that, Parsons still owns almost 489,000 additional ordinary shares in a superannuation fund.

Director of ASX 300 share Bellevue Gold sells down his stake

So investors might be worried to hear this. But in an accompanying statement, Bellevue told investors that the sale was a consequence of Parsons moving from a managing director role at the company to a non-executive director role. According to the release, "Mr Parsons remains a top-15 shareholder in Bellevue".

Bellevue chair Kevin Tomlinson told ASX 300 investors that "Steve's decision to reduce his shareholding is appropriate given his move to a non-executive position. His holding is now commensurate with his new role".

Bellevue also noted that "during his six-year tenure, Mr Parsons established his shareholding through a combination of the Company's incentive schemes and on-market purchases".

Many directors sell shares for very legitimate reasons, it has to be said. Even if someone manages a company, they have their own wealth diversification to consider. So it's up to Bellevue investors as to what to make of this move.

The Bellevue Gold share price has been a fairly solid performer of late. This ASX 300 share is up a robust 10.54% over the past 12 months and by more than 320% over the past five years.