Boston, MA 09/26/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Biopharmaceutical company Athersys, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATHX) Independent Director, Kenneth Traub, has resorted to acquiring of share from the open market on September 24 to improve his holding. This was the first purchase by an insider in the last three-month period.
In the current month of September, there were twelve insider trading activities of direct holding. However, eight them of were termed as automatic selling and four related to selling through non-open market.
Buys Shares
The company’s Independent Director, who has been with Athersys, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATHX) since 2012, has acquired 30,000 shares on September 24 at the rate of $1.39 a share, according to Form 4 filed with the regulator on September 25. He has paid an amount of $41,700 to buy the shares.
The purchasing price indicated that he has paid a premium of 28.7% from the 52-week low price of $1.08. However, it represented 67.9% discount over the one-year high price of $4.33 a share. As a result of the latest acquisition of shares, his holding has increased to 50,000 shares. This is valued around $69,000 based on the price of $1.38 a share.
In the current month, Athersys, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATHX)’s President and Chief Operating Officer, William Lehmann, has sold 15,000 shares each on September 19 and 22, according to a data from Nasdaq. This resulted in his holding getting reduced to 470,342 shares worth approximately $649,072. Before this, he sold 12,000 shares in June. There were also other officers who sold shares in the current month.
One-Year Insider Trading
In the last three-month period, there were thirteen insider trading activities, and all the transactions were related to selling of 100,920 shares during the same period. There was no buying activity from the insiders before the latest one.
However, in the last one-year period, there were both buying, as well as, selling of shares by the insiders. Of the total 49 transactions, six transactions were reported for acquiring 312,352 shares while 43 transactions related to selling of 430,719 shares in the last 52-week period. As a result, there was a net selling of 118,367 shares in the last one-year period.
For the first time in the last three-month period, there was a buying activity from the insiders, which might suggest that there could be less opportunity for a downside risk. However, this does not mean there would be potential upside rewards.
