While Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTLA) shareholders have had a good week with the stock up 12%, they shouldn't let their guards down. The fact that insiders chose to dispose of US$1.5m worth of stock in the past 12 months even though prices were relatively low could be indicative of some anticipated weakness.

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.

Intellia Therapeutics Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the President, John Leonard, sold US$566k worth of shares at a price of US$29.46 per share. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. The good news is that this large sale was at well above current price of US$26.57. So it may not shed much light on insider confidence at current levels.

In the last year Intellia Therapeutics insiders didn't buy any company stock. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Intellia Therapeutics Insiders Are Selling The Stock

Over the last three months, we've seen significant insider selling at Intellia Therapeutics. In total, insiders sold US$1.4m worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. This may suggest that some insiders think that the shares are not cheap.

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. Insiders own 1.4% of Intellia Therapeutics shares, worth about US$34m. 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 Intellia Therapeutics Insider Transactions Indicate?

Insiders sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. And even if we look at the last year, we didn't see any purchases. Insider ownership isn't particularly high, so this analysis makes us cautious about the company. We'd practice some caution before buying! So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. At Simply Wall St, we found 3 warning signs for Intellia Therapeutics that deserve your attention before buying any shares.

But note: Intellia Therapeutics may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.

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.