• December winner Meteoric Resources sees a non-executive director buy 6 million shares
  • Northern Star Resources and Chalice Mining directors sell in December for tax obligations
  • Johns Lyng Group COO Lindsay Barber sells 4 million shares, ~31% of his holding

Director trades are often considered a good indicator of a company’s future prospects. Our monthly ASX Director Trades column informs you who is buying in and who is selling down. Often referred to as insider buying or selling, directors are legally permitted to buy and sell shares of the company and any subsidiaries. However, these transactions must be properly registered and divulged.

Insider buying or selling is not to be confused with insider trading, which is buying shares based on non-public information, a big no-no and illegal.

We troll through the ASX company announcements looking at director trades of interest over the past month. It’s usually the big ones that stand out or those coinciding with company news.

Directors may get shares as part of employee incentive schemes, share purchase plans, rights issues, participate in dividend reinvestment plans or purchase on-market. It’s the on-market trades we think are worth noting, where directors directly or indirectly through entities they are associated either put up cash or cash in a stake.

When a director buys shares on-market or off-market, it can signify confidence the share price will rise in the future and if multiple directors are buying, especially at larger amounts, that is even more of an indication. Of course, it’s not a sure win that the share price will rise, so it’s always worth further research on a company.

Directors will often buy company shares after a sharp price decrease. Directors may think the stock has been oversold and represents good value, sometimes they want to show confidence in their company’s prospects, other times they’ve just got another good reason to buy or sell a stock which will be divulged, like paying the good ol’ taxman.

 

Market overview for December

While December has historically been one of the ASX200’s best months for performance it wasn’t the case for 2022 with the grinch out in full force.

While the benchmark S&P/ASX200 closed down 3.60% for December and 5.45% for 2022.

The S&P/ASX Emerging Companies (XEC) index is a benchmark for Australia’s micro-cap companies, containing up to 200 stocks that ranked between 350 and 600 by float-adjusted market capitalisation at the time of their index inclusion.

The top 50 performing ASX stocks for December:

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Code Company Last Share Price Mth % return Market Cap
MEI Meteoric Resources 0.054 260% $74,788,571
3DA Amaero International 0.16 122% $66,473,634
NGY Nuenergy Gas Ltd 0.036 112% $53,314,398
PCL Pancontinental Energy 0.009 80% $60,433,782
GRX Greenx Metals Ltd 0.64 78% $136,955,051
LME Limeade Inc. 0.305 61% $73,007,901
MAY Melbana Energy Ltd 0.064 60% $208,952,654
CAY Canyon Resources Ltd 0.065 55% $56,826,924
LCL Los Cerros Limited 0.058 53% $40,795,683
DUB Dubber Corp Ltd 0.475 46% $144,275,544
TON Triton Min Ltd 0.036 44% $52,545,799
MLX Metals X Limited 0.38 43% $308,470,463
MFD Mayfield Childcare 1.39 43% $90,131,533
WGO Warrego Energy Ltd 0.31 41% $379,167,921
MRL Mayur Resources Ltd 0.175 40% $45,495,061
DUG DUG Tech 0.63 40% $73,236,499
SOP Synertec Corporation 0.25 39% $96,807,413
4DS 4Ds Memory Limited 0.036 38% $50,312,025
RFG Retail Food Group 0.08 38% $166,179,277
TNT Tesserent Limited 0.13 37% $162,501,854
QGL Quantum Graphite 0.69 35% $204,706,000
ZEO Zeotech Limited 0.047 34% $77,113,166
MNB Minbos Resources Ltd 0.099 34% $72,396,979
AR1 Austral Resources 0.21 33% $67,968,503
TIG Tigers Realm Coal 0.016 33% $209,067,238
BNL Blue Star Helium Ltd 0.041 32% $60,274,462
BBX BBX Minerals Ltd 0.105 31% $48,672,148
ETM Energy Transition 0.063 31% $94,902,081
MRM MMA OffShore 0.95 30% $349,709,573
MDR Medadvisor Limited 0.26 30% $135,962,104
MTC Metalstech Ltd 0.52 30% $89,029,285
SVY Stavely Minerals Ltd 0.24 30% $77,509,117
SOR Strategic Elements 0.155 29% $66,449,581
MCE Matrix C & E Ltd 0.29 29% $43,821,429
STX Strike Energy Ltd 0.315 29% $711,656,859
MCM Mc Mining Ltd 0.275 28% $109,362,437
HGO Hillgrove Res Ltd 0.054 26% $64,585,898
BOC Bougainville Copper 0.35 25% $140,371,875
G1A Galena Mining 0.25 25% $156,553,515
CKA Cokal Ltd 0.205 24% $183,582,551
TGN Tungsten Min NL 0.095 23% $74,709,356
SDV Scidev Ltd 0.37 23% $68,329,268
GTK Gentrack Group Ltd 2.38 23% $242,947,313
BMT Beamtree Holdings 0.345 23% $79,539,330
RSG Resolute Mining 0.215 23% $447,091,379
AVA AVA Risk Group Ltd 0.245 23% $58,745,366
GRV Greenvale Energy Ltd 0.12 22% $50,606,665
BCB Bowen Coal Limited 0.33 22% $595,028,475
RED Red 5 Limited 0.2075 22% $586,491,510
PRN Perenti Limited 1.315 22% $916,376,728
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The XEC fell 2.60% for December and 22.69% for 2022.

The traditional Christmas rally which investors had been hoping for just didn’t eventuate with all sectors finishing the month in the red. Leading the laggards, was consumer discretionary down 7.04% for December, followed by Industrials down 5.51% and Information Technology 5.49%.

Like most of 2022 investors remained jittery throughout December reactive to any economic news and  indications of what might be in store for 2023.

China’s relaxation of tough COVID-19 restrictions also had investors jittery.

 

December director large buys

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Code Company Director Direct or Indirect Date Volume $ Nature of change
IPH IPH Limited Peter Warne Direct Dec-02 20,000 $171,945 On-market
CCR Credit Clear Paul Dwyer Indirect Dec-08 760,328 $319,338 On-market
CDM Cadence Capital Karl Peter Siegling Indirect Dec-12 110,921 $102,430 On-market
AUC Ausgold Limited Richard Lockwood Direct Dec-14 2,500,000 $120,083 On-market
TEK Thorney Technologies Alex Waislitz Indirect Dec 16-23 1,500,000 $311,966 On-market
MEI Meteoric Resources Paul Kitto Indirect Dec 19-22 6,000,000 $253,208 On-market
INF Infinity Lithium Corporation Remy Welschinger Direct & Indirect Dec-23 1,000,000 $109,777 On-market
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December winner Meteoric Resources (ASX:MEI) saw non executive director Paul Kitto ponied up for 6 million shares indirectly for $253,208.

MEI rose 260% in December after metallurgical results showed its new Caldeira project contains ionic adsorption clay REEs.

The exploration company targeting orogenic gold and porphyry copper-gold in WA and Brazil has seen its share price rise 460% in the past six months.

While a number of directors at Credit Clear (ASX:CCR) were issued with shares and options during December, non-executive director Paul Dwyer indirectly ponied up for 760,328 on market at a cost of ~$319k.

CCR is a provider of technology solutions to the debt collections industry and currently has a 1.4% market penetration in the Australian debt collection industry worth $2.5 billion.

The company recently outlined a three-year growth strategy which aims to increase this market share by around three times to  4-5% of the total addressable market.

CCR anticipates revenue to grow to $100 million per annum over this period, underpinning an EBITDA growth to $25-30 million annually.

 

The CCR & MEI share price today:

 

 

December director large sells

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Code Company Director Direct or Indirect Date Volume $ Nature of change
AFG Australian Finance Group Malcolm Stephen Watkins Direct & Indirect Dec-13 400,000 $608,157 On-market
LYL Lycopodium Karl Cicanese Indirect Dec-07 19,679 $135,555 On-market
NST Northern Star Resources Stuart Peter Tonkin Direct Dec 15 & 16 223,112 $2,396,223 On-market
ALK Alkane Resource Ian Jeffrey Gandel Indirect Dec 13-15 2,038,383 $1,234,241 On-market
JLG Johns Lyng Group Lindsay Barber Indirect Dec-19 4,000,000 $25,000,000 Off-market
CHN Chalice Mining Alexander Carl Dorsch Indirect Dec-19 1,250,000 $7,687,500 Not specified
ALK Alkane Resource Ian Jeffrey Gandel Indirect Dec-21 3,000,000 $1,684,200 On-market
CXO Core Lithium Gregory English Direct & Indirect Dec 16-22 300,000 $311,280 On-market
SLR Silver Lake Resources Limited Luke Tonkin Indirect Dec-06 740,000 $967,920 On-market
WTC Wisetech Global Richard White Direct & Indirect Dec 2-6 67,906 $3,879,470 On-market
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Johns Lyng Group COO sells $25 million shares

Johns Lyng Group (ASX:JLG)  chief operating officer Lindsay Barber sold four million shares, ~31% of his prior holding.

JLG said the sale, worth more $25m, was undertaken to diversify Barber’s personal asset portfolio.

“Mr Barber has informed the company that he has no intention of selling more shares within the next 12 months,” JLG said.

CEO and managing director Scott Didier sold 4 million shares for $25 million on October 10.

 

Sales to pay the ol’ taxman

Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST) sold managing director and CEO Stuart Tonkin sold 223,112 ordinary fully paid shares directly for an average price of $10.74/share (totalling $2,396,223) on December 15 & 16.

“The sale was undertaken in order to meet Mr Tonkin’s estimated tax liability,” NST said in an announcement.

“Mr Tonkin retains 1,160,000 Northern Star shares.”

Chalice Mining (ASX:CHN) Managing Director and CEO Alexander Carl Dorsch sold 1,250,000 ordinary shares for more than $7.6 million on December 19.

In the change of directors interest announcement CHN said Dorsch sold the shares “primarily to fund significant taxation obligations created through the exercise of performance rights in FY21 and FY22.”

Dorsch still holds 5,722,172 fully paid ordinary shares plus a more than 574,000 of performance rights.

CHN is an explorer and developer with a major greenfield platinum group element (PGE), nickel, copper, cobalt and gold discovery at its Julimar Project in WA.

 

The JLG,NST & CHN share price today:

 

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