Insider Trades: 32 ASX 200 directors bought and sold these stocks last week

Welcome back to the Insider Trades series – a weekly summary of on-market ASX 200 director transactions valued at more than $10,000. The below trades have all taken place between 20 and 28 August. Directors have up to 5 business days to notify the ASX of their trades.

As reporting season winds down, blackout windows have lifted and an avalanche of director transactions has hit the market, with insiders either hunting bargains or buying into strength. Below, we look at some of the stocks with multiple insiders buying and a few big hitters selling.

A top-up for Dexus

Dexus non-executive directors Warwick Negus and Varya Davidson lifted their positions by 25% and 12% respectively, shortly after the FY26 result on 20 August.

Source: Market Index

Key numbers from the result include:

• AFFO of $483.9m or 45.0cps, in line with guidance and flat on the pcp

• Distributions $397.4m or 37.0cps, an 82.1% payout ratio

• NTA per security up 1% to $8.92

• Look-through gearing 33.4%, toward the lower end of the 30–40% target range

• FY27 AFFO guidance 37.5–39.5cps (mid 38.5cps), a 14% decline on FY26

• FY27 distributions held at 37.0cps

Dexus shares are down 14.5% year-to-date and down 17% in the last twelve months (adjusted for dividends),

Cochlear insiders buy into strength

Heading into the FY26 result on 17 August, Cochlear had already rallied 45% since its 29 April low. Even so, the stock was still down 49% year-to-date. The stock rallied 7.5% on the day of the result, and three non-executive directors appear to have no issue buying into that strength.

Caroline Clarke, Michael del Prado and Michael Daniell grew their positions by 73%, 48% and 11% respectively. Ms Clarke joined the board in September 2024, so she is adding to her stake from a relatively low base.

Source: Market Index

The FY26 result itself wasn't a game changer, but it ended a grim streak of downgrades and misses that saw Cochlear shares tumble as much as 72% between August 2024 and April 2026.

• Sales revenue up 2% in constant currency to $2,343m vs $2,331m ests (1% beat)

• Gross margin 71%, down from 74% on sales mix, manufacturing variances and FX

• Underlying NPAT $322m, upper end of revised $290–330m guidance (vs $307m Macquarie ests — 5% beat)

• FY27 revenue guidance: low single-digit constant-currency growth, implying roughly $2,390–2,420m vs $2,330m Macquarie ests

• FY27 underlying NPAT guidance $330–350m (mid $340m) vs $325m Macquarie ests

Despite a slight beat across FY26 and FY27 guidance, analysts remain cautious given the mixed near-term outlook.

• Macquarie maintained its Neutral rating and raised its target price to $124.00 (from $115.00). The target price increase was driven by a material profit beat in FY26 due to disciplined SG&A control, a reset in free cash flow, and updated outer-year EPS revisions, though near-term revenue growth remains modest.

• UBS maintained its Neutral rating and raised its target price to $106.00 (from $103.32). The underlying FY26 profit beat reflected stronger unit sales and superior cost reductions, but the FY27 outlook suggests only gradual sales growth in mixed trading conditions, which is offset by disciplined operating expenditure control

Downer insiders buy the dip

Downer shares tumbled 10.3% on the day of its result (20 August), leaving the stock down 15% year-to-date and 5% over the last 12 months (adjusted for dividends). Non-executive director Kerry Gleeson has been on the board for 12 months and bought her first stake (8,003 shares), while Mark Menhinnitt grew his stake by 13.9% and Adelle Howse by 21.9%.

Source: Market Index

The result was mixed, but the market didn't like qualitative guidance that flagged a larger-than-normal skew to the second half of FY27. It's one of those we'll believe it when we see it situations.

• Revenue down 7.5% to $9,744.8m vs $10,158m ests (4.1% miss)

• Underlying NPAT up 11.0% to $293.9m vs $290m ests (1.3% beat)

• Total dividends up 17.3% to 29.2 cps fully franked vs 27.9 cps ests (4.7% beat)

• Work-in-hand up 10% to $38.5bn on $12.2bn of new work, with Facilities up 20.2% and around 90% government-related

• FY27 guidance qualitative only, targeting revenue and earnings growth with margin improvement but a larger than normal second-half skew and 1H27 below the pcp, against ests of 5% EBITA growth

Goodman directors double down

Non-executive directors Belinda Robson and Stephen Johns each added 10,000 shares, lifting their holdings by 24.3% and 104% respectively. Despite all the data centre hype, Goodman shares have gone nowhere since early 2024 and are down 20% over the last 12 months. The FY26 result contained no surprises, while the FY27 guidance was slightly soft, sending the stock down 1.5% on the day of the result (20 August) and a further 5.2% lower the next day.

• Operating profit up 15.7% to $2,674.5m vs $2,665m NPAT ests (in line)

• Operating EPS up 10.1% to 129.9cps vs 129.6cps ests (in line)

• Development earnings up 34% to $1,792.2m, the biggest contributor to the result

• WIP up over 50% to $19.7bn across 50 projects at a forecast 8.2% yield on cost, data centres now 78% of the book, roughly 50% of projects leased or in advanced negotiation

• FY27 OEPS growth target of 9% implies ~141.6cps, around 1% below 143.1cps ests

Source: Market Index

Other ASX 200 insider buys

Source: Market Index

Top ASX 200 insider sells

The interesting thing about the sells is that they almost always come from big hitters. This week it's James Hardie's Jesse Singh (former CEO of Azek, which James Hardie acquired in 2025) and BHP CEO Brandon Craig, who stepped into the role on 1 July 2026.

Source: Market Index

James Hardie shares have been flat since last August, with last year's downgrades offset by this year's upgrades. The latest 1Q27 result was strong across the board, including:

• Q1 revenue $1.48bn (1% beat)

• Q1 adjusted EBITDA $422.1m (7% beat), with cost synergies ahead of schedule

• Q2 revenue guidance $1.485–1.575bn (15% beat at midpoint)

• Q2 adjusted EBITDA guidance $420–455m (19% beat)

• FY27 revenue guidance raised to $5.564–5.723bn from $5.25–5.41bn

• FY27 adjusted EBITDA lifted to $1.536–1.625bn

Mr Singh offloaded a sizeable 265,100 shares or approximately 27.1% of his beneficial shareholding. It's his fifth disposal of the year, taking the year-to-date total to just over one million shares or ~$50.7 million.