While it’s been a great week for Xponential Fitness, Inc. (NYSE:XPOF) shareholders after stock gained 19%, they should consider it with a grain of salt. Even though stock prices were relatively low, insiders elected to sell US$1.8m worth of stock in the last year, which could indicate some expected downturn.

While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

Check out our latest analysis for Xponential Fitness

Xponential Fitness Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The insider, Anthony Geisler, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$452k worth of shares at a price of US$14.08 each. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even below the current price of US$15.26. When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent valuation. While insider selling is not a positive sign, we can't be sure if it does mean insiders think the shares are fully valued, so it's only a weak sign. We note that the biggest single sale was only 4.7% of Anthony Geisler's holding.

In the last year Xponential Fitness insiders didn't buy any company stock. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

I will like Xponential Fitness 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.

Insiders At Xponential Fitness Have Sold Stock Recently

The last three months saw significant insider selling at Xponential Fitness. Specifically, Chief Legal Officer Andrew Hagopian ditched US$326k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. Overall this makes us a bit cautious, but it's not the be all and end all.

Insider Ownership Of Xponential Fitness

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Insiders own 2.8% of Xponential Fitness shares, worth about US$19m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

So What Do The Xponential Fitness Insider Transactions Indicate?

An insider sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. And even if we look at the last year, we didn't see any purchases. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. We're in no rush to buy! So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. To that end, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Xponential Fitness (including 1 which makes us a bit uncomfortable).

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting 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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