Insider Trades: 4 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 19 and 23 October. Directors have up to 5 business days to notify the ASX of their trades.

Last week saw the fewest director transactions since the flurry that followed the lifting of blackout windows after August reporting season. There were only three buys over the $10,000 threshold, but a sizeable one from Stockland's CEO led the way through a deferred bonus and the only sell was a $1.8 million trade for non-executive Origin Energy director Frank Calabria.

Stockland CEO rebuilds part of his holding through deferred bonus

It's safe to say real estate stocks have had a difficult year, with four rate hikes, a global bond sell-off that pushed long-term borrowing yields past 5% and federal tax changes weighing on the sector. The S&P/ASX 200 Real Estate index has fallen 17.9% year-to-date, and Stockland, one of Australia’s largest diversified property groups, is down 25.8% from $5.73 at the end of 2025 to around $4.25.

Up to its FY26 earnings the stock was down 30% YTD, but a solid set of results where its funds from operations (FFO) were up 10.4% to $892 million helped push the share price 12% higher on the day. However, moving into the first quarter of FY27, headwinds began to show again, with the company saying higher interest rates and tax changes had slowed demand across its housing businesses. Masterplanned community net sales fell 22.2% on the prior quarter to 1,506 lots and enquiries fell 48.2% to 10,452. Contract pricing held above FY26 levels, and the company maintained FY27 guidance for FFO of 38.0-39.0 cents per security and 7,300-8,300 masterplanned community settlements. Its share price lost 4% on the day to close at $4.06.

This is where Managing Director and CEO Tarun Gupta received 263,303 securities, bought on-market to settle his FY26 deferred short-term incentive rather than as a discretionary purchase. Gupta sold 874,721 securities on-market at an average of $4.32 on 7 September, worth about $3.8 million, to meet tax liabilities, according to the notice, cutting his direct holding from 960,214 to 85,493. The October grant lifted it to 348,796 and his total interest to 2,207,162, including 1,858,366 held through a family trust. Gupta has led Stockland since 2021.

After the September quarter results:

• UBS cut its target to $5.01 from $5.12 in a 20 October note and kept its Buy rating, saying quarterly sales need to lift to around 1,900-2,000 lots to keep the market confident in FY28 settlement expectations.

• Ord Minnett cut its target to $4.55 from $4.75 and its FY27 settlement forecast to 7,500, below the 7,800 guidance midpoint, and retained its Accumulate rating

• Citi kept its Buy rating and $5.40 target, expecting land lease to meet its FY27 target of 850-950 settlements.

Bank of Queensland director buys after full-year profit rebound

Bank of Queensland shares are up 10% year-to-date, ahead of a 3% gain in the S&P/ASX 200 Financials index, despite falling 9% after a first-half result that had cash profit down 4% to $176 million and the home loan book down 4% over the half. The bank managed a more positive FY26 result, with net interest margin up 6 basis points to 1.70% and BOQ returned 55c a share to shareholders over the year, though cash earnings fell 7%. Chair Andrew Fraser recently bought 5,147 shares, lifting his holding 17% to 35,000.

Worley buys after two earnings downgrades

It’s been one thing after another this year for Worley, a global engineering company with 40,400 employees across 43 countries, from the Middle East conflict and adverse currency movements to project cancellations in Europe. The stock is down 26.9% year-to-date against a 2% fall in the S&P/ASX 200 Industrials index.

Worley warned in April that underlying EBITA was unlikely to grow in FY26, estimating the Middle East conflict would wipe $30–40 million from earnings, before lifting that hit to $58 million in June. The FY26 result on 26 August dragged the stock down another 10.8% ($9.90) after the company guided to FY27 revenue and underlying EBITDA growth of mid-to-high single digits, which was well below market expectations into the high teens. The stock has since slipped another 3.5% to the mid $9.00 level.

Non-Executive Director Martin Parkinson has purchased 3,232 shares, lifting his holding by 15% to 24,897 shares. He's been on the board since February 2020.

Macquarie rates Worley Outperform with an $11.90 price target in an 8 September note, saying it is well positioned to benefit from the energy security theme. The broker sees solid fundamentals across the contractors, with robust demand, rational contract bidding and cost-outs supporting margins.

Top ASX insider sell

Origin Energy Managing Director and CEO Frank Calabria sold 150,000 shares on-market between 14 and 20 October, about 9% of his shareholding. The sale started on the day of Origin’s AGM and was mainly to cover personal tax obligations from the vesting of equity incentives, according to the company. Its FY26 result had underlying profit down 22% to $1.16 billion on lower oil-linked gas earnings, while Energy Markets EBITDA rose 21% to $1.70 billion and adjusted free cash flow rose $867 million to $2.07 billion. The shares rose 5.3% on the day and are up 5.7% year-to-date, behind a 10% gain in the S&P/ASX 200 Utilities index.

Morgan Stanley kept its Underweight rating and $10.33 target in a 13 October note, citing a full valuation and expected Energy Markets headwinds from lower and flatter electricity pool prices, despite lifting its FY28 earnings forecast 17% on higher oil prices.