Insider Trades: 4 notable ASX 200 director buys and sells this week

Director trading activity continues to remain subdued amid quarterly reporting season and volatile market conditions. However, several significant transactions valued at more than $100,000 have taken place in the past week across both small, mid and large-cap companies.

The below tables refer to all the on-market trades between 6-16 October valued at more than $100,000.

Top Insider Sells

Computershare: CEO Stuart Irving's recent stock sale is consistent with the historical pattern of insider selling in February and September. This particular sale reflects the vesting of performance and share appreciation rights under Irving's Long Term Incentive plan.

Breville: CEO James Clayton sold $3.3m worth of shares in late September (converted performance and share appreciation rights in early September). Now Non-Executive Director Dean Howell sold another $555,609 on market. Breville faces a conflicting situation where analysts are bullish on the stock, but economic indicators suggest challenging times ahead.

• Goldman Sachs (Oct 11): "We have been structurally positive on BRG’s unique positioning in global coffee premiumisation trend and its establishment of a global high-end appliance brand backed by unique innovation. We upgrade Breville to Buy with new target price of $24.50 (was A$23.50) on higher confidence in US consumption demand which, coupled with recovering Europe and a more resilient consumer in APAC."

• The data: Australian retail sales rose 0.2% month-on-month in August and up 1.3% year-on-year. By category, household goods sales fell 0.4% month-on-month and down 6.6% year-on-year while electrical and electronic goods sales was down 0.2% month-on-month and down 9.1% year-on-year.

Breville 12-month price chart (Source: Market Index)

Top Insider Buys

Qantas Non-Executive Director William Parker has made a modest purchase as the company's stock approaches 14-month lows. This purchase is noteworthy as it represents the first insider buy since former CEO Alan Joyce's $16.9 million on-market sale in June and the first on-market buy since June 2022. Parker was the former CEO of American Airlines from 2013 to March 2022.

Investors are growing increasingly concerned about the impact of rising costs and a weakening economy on travel demand, according to Reuters. Earlier this week, United Airlines exceeded revenue and earnings expectations for the third quarter, but issued a weak forecast for the upcoming quarter due to rising costs such as labour, maintenance and landing fees.

Qantas 12-month price chart (Source: Market Index)

Pexa Chairman Mark Joiner is also buying into a downward spiral. Shares in the online property settlement platform hit all-time lows of $9.98 last week after the company announced plans to acquire UK-based conveyancing technology provider, Smoove.

"Smoove acquisition further de-risks UK roll-out, but business is loss making and questions around the execution strategy remain," Goldman Sachs analyst said in a note last week.

"PEXA Exchange continues to underpin the group valuation, but for the stock to re-rate management need some runs on the board in the UK."

The investment bank retained an Outperform rating with a $15.20 target price.

Pexa 12-month price chart (Source: Market Index)