Don’t Ignore The Insider Selling In Accel Entertainment

Some Accel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:ACEL) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the Vice Chairman of the Board & Co-Founder, Gordon Rubenstein, recently sold a substantial US$2.0m worth of stock at a price of US$9.80 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 9.5%.

See our latest analysis for Accel Entertainment

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Accel Entertainment

In fact, the recent sale by Vice Chairman of the Board & Co-Founder Gordon Rubenstein was not their only sale of Accel Entertainment shares this year. Earlier in the year, they fetched US$10.60 per share in a -US$3.3m sale. That means that an insider was selling shares at around the current price of US$9.93. We generally don’t like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. In this case, the big sale took place at around the current price, so it’s not too bad (but it’s still not a positive).

Gordon Rubenstein sold a total of 705.21k shares over the year at an average price of US$10.18. 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!

I will like Accel Entertainment better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of undervalued and small cap stocks with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Insider Ownership

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. I reckon it’s a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Accel Entertainment insiders own about US$106m worth of shares (which is 13% of the company). Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.

So What Do The Accel Entertainment Insider Transactions Indicate?

An insider hasn’t bought Accel Entertainment 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. While insiders do own a lot of shares in the company (which is good), our analysis of their transactions doesn’t make us feel confident about the company. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it’s beneficial to identify the risks facing Accel Entertainment. Every company has risks, and we’ve spotted 3 warning signs for Accel Entertainment you should know about.

Of course Accel Entertainment 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.

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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.