Bellevue Gold has been the golden goose for former managing director Steve Parsons. Pic: Getty Images
Director Trades
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.
February failed to provide much reason to celebrate for investors with the S&P ASX 200 finishing in the red and dropping 2.5%, reducing YTD gains to 3.6%.
As Stockhead’s Reuben Adams reported, the shortest month of the year has tended to be positive for local stocks, with the ASX 200 making gains six out of 11 Februarys since 2013.
However, 2023 was a negative February with much needed solid gains in January and optimism at the start of 2023 seeming to be short-lived as investors anticipated more economic volatility to come.
But after a couple of quieter months director trading picked up in February. Whether to take advantage of lower prices to top up their holdings or to pay tax liabilities, there has been some large director buys and sells in February.
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort
| Code | Company | Direct | Director or Indirect | Date | Volume | $ | Nature of change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TEK | Thorney Technologies | Alex Waislitz | Indirect | Feb 14,17 & 20 | 1,389,665 | $295,548 | On-market |
| WGN | Wagners Holding Company | Denis Wagner | Direct & Indirect | Feb 23, 24 & 27 | 440,216 | $263,353 | On-market |
| SRV | Servcorp Limited | Alfred George Moufarrige | Indirect | Feb-17 | 75,778 | $256,121 | On-market |
| SRV | Servcorp | Alfred George Moufarrige | Indirect | Feb-17 | 75,778 | $256,121 | On-market |
| DDR | Dicker Data | Vladimir Mitnovetski | Direct & Indirect | Feb-28 | 30,000 | $241,900 | On-market |
| SVW | Seven Group Holdings Limited | Rachel Argaman (Herman) | Indirect | Feb-16 | 6,500 | $156,975 | On-market |
| GLN | Galan Lithium | Daniel Jimenez | Direct | Feb-16 | 105,000 | $126,000 | On-market |
| AD8 | Audinate Group | Amrita Blickstead | Direct | Feb-24 | 12,980 | ~$107,215 | On-market |
| DDR | Dicker Data | Ian Welch | Direct | Feb-28 | 10,000 | $79,000 | On-market |
| DDR | Dicker Data | Mary Stojcevski | Indirect | Feb-28 | 7000 | $56,000 | On-market |
Founder and chairman of listed investment group Thorney Technologies (ASX:TEK), billionaire investor Alex Waislitz, continued to top up his holdings in a series of trades.
Tech hardware, software, cloud, access control and surveillance distributor Dicker Data (ASX:DDR) saw its executive director and chief operating officer Vladimir Mitnovetski pony up for 30,000 shares for $241,950 on February 28.
Mitnovetski now holds 792,912 directly and 53,184 indirectly in the company.
Executive director and chief financial officer Mary Stojcevski along with executive director and chief information officer Ian Welch also purchased more shares in DDR.
The share purchases came a day after DDR released mixed full-year 2022 results including:
“Ongoing challenges from factors outside of our control that could not have been predicted, expected, or avoided in any meaningful way, did weigh on our final outcome for FY22,” chairman and CEO David Dicker said.
“Rising interest rates, inflation and other factors increased our cost of operations with no upside. Despite this, we delivered on our gross margin guidance and finished the year ahead of our competitors yet again.”
Galan Lithium (ASX:GLN) non-executive director Daniel Jimenez plumped for 105,000 shares at ~$126,000 on February 16. Jimenez now holds 2,447,713 fully paid ordinary shares, 1 million options expiring October 8, 2023 and 3 million performance rights.
The first diamond drillhole at GLN’s Santa Barbara tenement intersected lithium brines while a new survey highlighted brine continuity over the entire area.
Hole SB-01-23 was drilled to a depth of 455m with 72-hour airlift testing extracting brines with an average lithium grade of 829mg/l.
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort
| Code | Company | Director | Direct or Indirect | Date | Volume | $ | Nature of change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BGL | Bellevue Gold | Stephen Parsons | Indirect | Feb-20 | 17,000,000 | $17,850,000 | On-market |
| BCB | Bowen Coking Coal | Matthew Latimore | Direct & Indirect | Feb-02 | 40,000,000 | $10,800,000 | On-market |
| AUD | Audinate Group | Aidan Williams | Direct | Feb-14 | 130,000 | ~$1,034,800 | On-market |
| DEG | De Grey Mining | Peter Hood | Direct & Indirect | Feb 17-22 | 447,227 | $600,362 | On-market |
| SYR | Syrah Resources | Shaun Verner | Direct & Indirect | Feb 2, 3 & 6 | 220,000 | $447,279 | On-market |
| MGX | Mount Gibson Iron | Alan Jones | Direct | Feb-23 | 300,000 | $170,070 | On-market |
| AL3 | AML3D Limited | Andrew Michael Clayton Sales | Direct | Feb-07 | 1,250,000 | $126,500 | On-market |
| EVR | EV Resources | Adrian Paul | Direct & Indirect | Feb-07 | 4,235,749 | $105,893.73 | On-market |
Bellevue Gold (ASX: BGL) former managing director Steve Parsons sold down $17.85 million worth of stock on February 20 as he moves to a non-executive director position.
According to an ASX announcement Parsons has sold 17 million Bellevue shares, leaving him with a total holding of ~17 million shares and remaining a top 15 shareholder.
Parsons was appointed to his role in 2017, shortly after the company acquired the mothballed Bellevue gold mine in WA.
BGL said he led the exploration and development strategy which has resulted in the company being poised for production and cashflow this year.
As Stockhead’s Reuben Adams reported recently, BGL has grown to become one of Australia’s most “beloved gold project developers” with its share price rising more than 400% since 2017.
The announcement said Parsons established his shareholding through a combination of the company’s incentive schemes and on-market purchases.
Darren Stralow, who has been Bellevue Chief Executive since December 2021, was appointed managing director and CEO, taking up the reins on March 1.
“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,” BGL chairman Kevin Tomlinson said.
Sports-car-loving Brisbane coal mining entrepreneur Matthew Latimore sold down 40 million shares at 27 cents/share equating to $10.8 million in Bowen Coking Coal (ASX:BCB) on February 2.
Latimore is a non-executive director at BCB along with Stanmore Resources (ASX:SMR). He is also the founder and president of privately owned M Resources, established to trade coal, predominantly metallurgical coal to global steel mills for manufacture of coke and steel.
BCB last week announced the appointment of mining executive Mark Ruston as its new CEO, effective from March 27. By the look of the announcement Latimore still holds plenty of shares in BCB directly and directly. The company has seen its share price fall 36% in the past six months.
As the old saying goes the only certainty in life is death and taxes. There were several large director sells in February to pay tax liabilities.
Graphite miner Syrah Resources (ASX: SYR) managing director and CEO Shaun Verner sold 220,000 shares on February 2,3 and 6 to meet personal tax obligations according to an ASX announcement.
After the sale Verner continues to hold 1,209,274 shares and 4,738,632 performance rights (directly and indirectly).
The 3D printed parts company AML3D (ASX:AL3) saw its executive director and CTO Andrew Sales sell down 1.25 million shares for $126,500 to “fund tax and personal liabilities”.
Sales still holds 34,949,850 ordinary fully paid shares after the change.
Director Trades
Director Trades
Director Trades
