Y-mAbs Therapeutics, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:YMAB) stock rose 10% last week, but insiders who sold US$1.9m worth of stock over the last year are probably in a more advantageous position. Selling at an average price of US$6.24, which is higher than the current price might have been the right call as holding on to stock would have meant their investment would be worth less now than it was at the time of sale.

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.

Y-mAbs Therapeutics Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The Founder, Thomas Gad, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$1.0m worth of shares at a price of US$6.83 each. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$16.23, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. As a general rule we consider it to be discouraging when insiders are selling below the current price, because it suggests they were happy with a lower valuation. Please do note, however, that sellers may have a variety of reasons for selling, so we don't know for sure what they think of the stock price. We note that the biggest single sale was only 29% of Thomas Gad's holding.

Insiders in Y-mAbs Therapeutics didn't buy any shares in the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

I will like Y-mAbs Therapeutics better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Y-mAbs Therapeutics Insiders Are Selling The Stock

The last three months saw significant insider selling at Y-mAbs Therapeutics. In total, insiders dumped US$120k 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 Of Y-mAbs Therapeutics

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Y-mAbs Therapeutics insiders own about US$22m worth of shares. That equates to 3.1% of the company. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Y-mAbs Therapeutics Tell Us?

Insiders sold Y-mAbs Therapeutics shares recently, but they didn't buy any. 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. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. While we like knowing what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. When we did our research, we found 4 warning signs for Y-mAbs Therapeutics (1 is significant!) that we believe deserve your full attention.

Of course Y-mAbs Therapeutics 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.