Insider Trades: Directors bought and sold shares in these 5 ASX 200 stocks last week
- Soul Patt's Chairman Robert Millner continues to accumulate shares after the company reported its 2024 results in late September
- Wisetech CEO Richard White has recorded his largest selldown since December 2021
- NextDC CEO Craig Scroggie marks his first sale since September 2021 and after the company's recent $500 million capital raise
Welcome back to the Insider Trades Series – A weekly summary of on-market ASX 200 director transactions valued at more than $10,000. The trades have all taken place between 3 and 10 October 2024. Directors have up to 5 business days to notify the ASX of their trades.
Top ASX 200 Insider Buys
Code | Company | Date | Director | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SOL | Washington H Soul Pattinson | 3/10/24 | Robert Millner | $35.29 | $1,323,202 |
QAN | Qantas Airways | 4/10/24 | Nora Scheinkestel | $6.95 | $14,820 |
Key takeaways:
Soul Patts' Chairman Robert Millner continues to accumulate shares, adding $1.3 million worth of shares following a $9.4 million parcel the prior week. The company reported 2024 results on 26 September, highlighting:
Net asset value (pre-tax) growth of 8.7% to $11.8 billion
Net cash flow from investments up 10.3% to $468 million
Total ordinary dividends up 9.2% to 95 cents per share, marking the 24th consecutive year of dividend growth
Private equity lending maintains near 15% yield, with $500 million new opportunities identified
Emerging companies portfolio size grew 68.2%, heavily exposed to energy sector, particularly uranium investments in Canada
Strategies for FY25 include increasing private investments and maintained diversified asset allocation
Top ASX 200 Insider Sells
Code | Company | Date | Director | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
WTC | Wisetech | 10/10/24 | Richard White | $132.89 | $61,380,694 |
NXT | NextDC | 10/10/24 | Craig Scroggie | $17.74 | $14,953,170 |
NXT | NextDC | 10/10/24 | Craig Scroggie | $17.74 | $127,373 |
SGM | Sims | 8/10/24 | Stephen Mikkelsen | $12.60 | $126,000 |
Key takeaways:
Wisetech CEO and founder Richard White is selling at a record clip. His recent $61.3 million selldown marks the largest since December 2021, when he sold $237 million worth of shares. Mr White has openly said "I've been selling small amounts of stock, about the same percentage every day, for probably the last three years (excluding blackout periods of course." In an interview with Livewire Markets, he noted that the "alternative would be to not sell the stock. We get a lot of complaints about the inability to get stock, in enough size, to make a substantial holding." Nevertheless, it's interesting to see an uptick from the usual $30-45 million selldowns.
NextDC CEO Craig Scroggie has recorded his first on-market sell since September 2021. has made his first on-market sale since September 2021. This comes as the company launched a $500 million capital raise on September 10, offering shares at $17.15 each, a 3.8% discount to the previous close. The raise aims to fund new data centre development sites in Asia. An accompanying $200 million share purchase plan achieved only a 22% take-up rate, raising $128 million. Citi analysts view the raise as "overall, we see the equity raise as opportunistic, with the land acquisitions also reflecting the need to build a land bank given increased demand for suitable sites that also have power availability." They maintained a Buy rating on the stock with a $19.25 target price.