Insider Trades: 3 small cap directors selling after share price surges

A summary of director transactions among mid-to-small cap resource companies between 6 to 17 February.

Top 15 Insider Moves by Value

Interesting Sells

The three transactions below all have a rather similar narrative:

• The stocks are down 30-70% in the last twelve months.

• The stocks rallied on good news.

• Directors sold a part of their holdings on the day (or a few days later).

The orange circle in the price charts below represents the day the director transaction takes place.

Carnaby Resources (ASX: CNB)

Carnaby shares rallied 10.6% on February 2nd following the release of "a significant new high grade copper gold discovery" at the company's Mount Hope Central discovery in Queensland.

The price action over the next few days was rather volatile and on no additional news:

• 3-7 February: -10% to $1.08

• 8-9 February: +21.8% to $1.315

On February 10, three directors exercised a collective 900,000 options at 45 cents each but sold 3 million shares at around $1.15 per share.

Carnaby Resources chart (Source: TradingView)

AML3D (ASX: AL3)

AML3D follows a similar narrative but more explosive narrative as Carnaby. On February 1st, the company announced the sale of a large-scale 3D printing system to the US Navy valued at approximately $1 million. The announcement also noted that "a further expansion of AML3D's strategic partnership with the US Navy is expected with an additional contract for metal characterisation testing."

The session was extremely volatile, with notable price points including:

• Open: +14.3% to 7.6 cents

• Session high: +92.9% to 13.5 cents

• Close: +31.4% to 9.2 cents

Two days later, AML3D shares were halted, pending a $3 million capital raise at 7.2 cents per share. The stock resumed trading on February 7th and that's where Chief Technology Officer Andrew Sales sold 1.25 million shares or $126,500.

AML3D chart (Source: TradingView)

EV Resources (ASX: EVR)

On February 7th, EVR received a $25 million investment commitment from Sapphire Global Energy Fund, sending the stock up 53% to 2.3 cents. Management said the proceeds will be used to acquire new projects and as working capital to develop its global portfolio of seven early stage copper, lithium and gold projects.

On the same day, CEO Adrian Paul sold 4.2 million shares or $105,000. It’s worth noting that the stock is down -70% in the last twelve months.

EV Resources chart (Source: TradingView)

Interesting Buys

Magnetite Mines (ASX: MGT)

Contrary to the above three transactions, one Magnetite Mines director purchased more shares after a near 100% rally since the beginning of February.

The outsized move was fuelled by a Mineral Resource update on February 9th which upgraded its flagship Razorback Iron Ore Project resource to 3.3 billion tonnes at recovery rates of 16.0%.

The next day, Non-executive Director Paul White added 124,316 shares at 80 cents.

Magnetite Mines chart (Source: TradingView)