We often see insiders buying up shares in companies that perform well over the long term. On the other hand, we'd be remiss not to mention that insider sales have been known to precede tough periods for a business. So shareholders might well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Kronos Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:KRON).

What Is Insider Selling?

It's quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market.

We don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions. But it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. For example, a Harvard University study found that 'insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year'.

See our latest analysis for Kronos Bio

Kronos Bio Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The President Norbert Bischofberger made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$1.8m worth of shares at a price of US$19.00 each. Even though the purchase was made at a significantly lower price than the recent price (US$22.60), we still think insider buying is a positive. Because the shares were purchased at a lower price, this particular buy doesn't tell us much about how insiders feel about the current share price.

In the last twelve months Kronos Bio insiders were buying shares, but not selling. 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!

Kronos Bio is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying.

Kronos Bio Insiders Bought Stock Recently

There was some insider buying at Kronos Bio over the last quarter. insider Marianne De Backer bought US$15k worth of shares in that time. We like it when there are only buyers, and no sellers. However, in this case the amount invested recently is quite small.

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. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Kronos Bio insiders own about US$192m worth of shares (which is 15% 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.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Kronos Bio Tell Us?

We note a that there has been a bit of insider buying recently (but no selling). The net investment is not enough to encourage us much. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. It would be great to see more insider buying, but overall it seems like Kronos Bio insiders are reasonably well aligned (owning significant chunk of the company's shares) and optimistic for the future. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. You'd be interested to know, that we found 2 warning signs for Kronos Bio and we suggest you have a look.

Of course Kronos Bio 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, but not derivative transactions.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.

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