While it’s been a great week for Seer, Inc. (NASDAQ:SEER) shareholders after stock gained 13%, not so much for insiders who sold stock over the past year. They could have sold their shares at much higher prices and gotten a better return on their investment if they had waited.

While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

Check out our latest analysis for Seer

Seer Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Founder Omid Farokhzad bought US$98k worth of shares at a price of US$2.45 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being US$1.97). While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. To us, it's very important to consider the price insiders pay for shares. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock when an insider has bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price. Omid Farokhzad was the only individual insider to buy during the last year. Notably Omid Farokhzad was also the biggest seller.

All up, insiders sold more shares in Seer than they bought, over the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

I will like Seer better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Insiders At Seer Have Sold Stock Recently

We have seen a bit of insider selling at Seer, over the last three months. Chief Legal Officer Elona Kogan divested only US$14k worth of shares in that time. It's not great to see insider selling, nor the lack of recent buyers. But the amount sold isn't enough for us to put any weight on it.

Insider Ownership Of Seer

I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Seer insiders own about US$14m worth of shares. That equates to 12% of the company. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Seer Tell Us?

We did not see any insider buying in the last three months, but we did see selling. But the sales were small, so we're not concerned. We're a little cautious about the insider selling at Seer. But it's good to see that insiders own shares in the company. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Seer. You'd be interested to know, that we found 1 warning sign for Seer and we suggest you have a look.

Of course Seer 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.

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.