Insider Trades: 9 ASX 200 directors bought and sold shares 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 trades have all taken place between 19 and 25 September 2024. Directors have up to 5 business days to notify the ASX of their trades.

Top ASX 200 Insider Buys

Non-Exec's and Tabcorp Dip Buyers

Note: Everyone from the above list is a Non-Executive Director.

Insiders have been actively purchasing Qantas shares after August reporting season. CEO Vanessa Hudson and Non-Executive Director Nora Scheinkestel recently acquired significant holdings, with Hudson buying 76,269 shares ($513,732) and Scheinkestel purchasing 47,000 shares ($321,461) earlier this month. Qantas shares have seen a 34% increase year-to-date and a 13% rise since its FY24 result announcement on August 29.

The FY24 result was generally in-line with analyst expectations, showing a stable performance amid significant investments in service improvements, fleet renewable and customer experience. The result demonstrated management's balancing act between maintaining service levels and investing for future growth, with profit before tax coming in as expected and net debt at the lower end of the target range.

Qantas announced a further $400 million buyback, reinforcing confidence in its balance sheet and commitment to returning capital to shareholders despite ongoing fleet investments. The FY25 outlook highlighted expected capacity growth across domestic and international operations, with modest revenue growth projected for the domestic market but challenges anticipated in the international segment due to declining unit sales.

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

In contrast, Tabcorp shares hit a near four-year low of 27.5 cents earlier this month as investors reacted to a disappointing FY24 result. The company missed analyst expectations due to increasing costs and underperforming wagering revenues. Operating costs reached the high end of FY24 guidance, and management abandoned its FY25 guidance. Cost increases are expected to continue due to inflationary pressures, regulatory requirements, and expenses related to the new Victorian wagering license.

Macquarie analysts noted that while Tabcorp holds attractive and mostly exclusive licenses in Wagering, Media, and Monitoring, these assets are underperforming and trading at low multiples. Despite new management, there is no clear path to improve competitiveness and profitability, and execution risks remain.

Tabcorp has seen $189,000 worth of insider buys from four different Non-Executive Directors. However, this follows $301,900 worth of buying in February-March from five separate insiders, with those purchases now down around 30-40% at current prices.

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

Top ASX 200 Insider Sells

Seasonal Selling

Witnessing a CEO or founder sell millions worth of shares can be unsettling for investors. Do they know something we don't? Is a negative announcement right around the corner? But more often than not, such large shareholders have the tendency to sell a portion of their shares after reporting season.

Goodman Group founder Gregory Goodman has sold approximately $300.4 million worth of shares since 2015. A majority of these trades have taken place in the months of February, May and September. The recent string of trades (3) have totaled $54.9 million has been a little higher compared to previous years. But the share price has also rallied substantially, up 72% in the past twelve months and 125% in the past three years.

This pattern of September share sales is not unique to Goodman, as demonstrated by Breville's CEO James Clayton and Wisetech's Co-Founder Maree Isaacs.