Insider Trades: Directors bought and sold these 7 ASX 200 stocks last week

Welcome back to the Insider Trades Series – A summary of all on-market ASX 200 director transactions valued at more than $10,000. These trades have taken place between 7-13 November and coincidentally, they're all non-executive directors.

The Lone Sell

Breville (ASX: BRG) has seen some rather mixed signals from insiders.

The latest sale coincides with some rather depressed data from Westpac's monthly consumer sentiment data which showed:

• The Index fell 2.6% to 79.9, down from 82 in October. This level is on par with levels seen during the onset of the pandemic and Global Financial Crisis

• "The weak November sentiment print is an ominous sign heading into the Christmas high season. Pessimism is having a major bearing on spending attitudes," the survey notes.

• "Responses point to another ‘penny pinching’ Christmas this year with nearly 40% of consumers planning to spend less on gifts than last year."

• "The ‘time to buy a major household item’ sub-index edged 1.4% lower in the month to a very weak read of 81.3, which is in the bottom 2% of observations since the survey began."

Top ASX 200 Director Buys

Macquarie (ASX: MQG) reported its first half earnings on 3 November, which fell short of analyst expectations.

• Earnings per share of $3.69, well-below the $4.41 expected by analysts

• Net profit down 39% year-on-year to $1.41 billion, below the $1.70 billion expected

• Market facing business divisions including Macquarie Asset Management and Commodities & Global Markets both missed earnings expectations

• Annualised return on equity of 8.7%, below the 10.7% expected

Despite the broad-based miss, Macquarie shares managed to finish the session 1.8% higher after opening 2.0% lower.

"There was plenty of detail in the result, yet we thought what was most extraordinary was the positive share price reaction despite the headline miss and likely negative consensus revisions. At a base level, this tells us that the market was pricing in the earnings miss," Citi analysts said in a note dated 3 November.

"Nevertheless, with material surplus capital, an announced buyback, and a dire near-term asset realisation environment that likely corrects, we retain our Neutral recommendation [with a $1.61.00 target price]."

The downbeat result has not deterred insiders, with two non-executives buying a collective $282,908 around the $160 level. Macquarie shares opened at $169.80 on Thursday.

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