Insider Trades: Directors bought and sold shares in these 14 ASX 200 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 trades have all taken place between 20 and 21 June 2024. Directors have up to 5 business days to notify the ASX of their trades.

Top ASX 200 Insider Buys

Dip Buyers

Buying into post-reporting season weakness is the dominant theme across most of the above insider buys. A few that stand out include:

• Kelsian Group: Despite a solid FY24 result, KLS shares plummeted 24% on August 26. The drop was primarily driven by an elevated FY25 capex guide and an underperforming US business. The increased capital expenditure forecast intensified concerns about the company's capital-intensive nature, viewed as a burden that will delay its deleveraging process.

• Ramsay Health Care: RHC's FY24 results reached the upper end of its pre-guided NPAT range, but segment performance varied significantly. The Australian operations, a major contributor to group earnings, and the UK division faced margin pressure due to wage inflation and tariff outcomes. Despite a stabilised balance sheet, analysts expressed concerns about ongoing inflationary pressure and uncertain economic conditions, particularly in Europe. Ramsay shares fell 6.8% on August 30 and have since declined an additional 5%.

• Collins Foods: CKF's update for the first 16 weeks of FY25 trading revealed solid numbers from KFC Australia, offset by weakness across European restaurants. The company warned of continued inflationary pressure on input costs, labor, and energy. Despite resilient top-line performance, CKF cautioned that 1H25 EBITDA margins may decrease by 1.3% to 1.6%. This news led to a 13% drop in the stock price on August 13.

• Netwealth: NWL's FY24 result fell slightly below expectations, with net profit underperforming due to lower-than-anticipated revenue and margins. While management had previously signaled a potential margin decline, the actual reduction was far more pronounced. However, the result noted a strong pipeline and solid start to the new financial year. Netwealth shares closed 5.5% lower on August 13, but notably, it's one of the few reporting season misses that has managed to recover from the initial selloff.

Top ASX 200 Insider Sells

Regular Selldowns

At face, it appears that these CEOs are offloading millions of dollars worth of shares. But all four executives have shown the tendency to sell around this time, every year.

• Wisetech CEO Richard White and Co-founder Maree Isaacs have sold more than $300 million worth of shares in FY24. "Making a small daily trade, in a very orderly way and reporting it every week ... means that people can see that liquidity is coming to the market," explains Mr White. You can read my insights about his selling here

• CSL CEO Paul McKenzie has the tendency to sell shares around the last week of August or first week of September

• Former Fortescue CEO Elizabeth Gains has been actively selling shares around August and September every year since 2020