I think these insider sales are actually positive. Check out this press release from March 2017, as the 3 founders were faced with a lot of demand for their shares, and sold an additional 1 million shares for $3.40/share in a secondary offering. Here is the link:
https://www.acuityads.com/press/acuityads-announces-increase-previously-announced-offering-10-2-million-secondary-offering-1-0-million-shares/
“We have seen an overwhelming positive response from the previously announced offering and are faced with an opportunity to provide additional liquidity to the market,” said Tal Hayek , CEO of AcuityAds. “In order to support this demand without creating any unnecessary shareholder dilution, three of our four founders have elected to release a total of 1 million shares as part of the bought-private placement.”
Sounds like the same pattern from the Nov 2020 bought deal to now. They have a lot of demand, decided not to dilute further, selling in Dec 2020 and recently, while still holding approx 15% of the company today. They were most likely advised to do this, as the market makers know what's what behind the scenes, especially with S&P/TSX inclusion and Nasdaq coming up. I think its safe to say they will not dilute with Nasdaq uplisting. They have plenty of cash, and probably don't have the right fit yet for an acquisition.
The only thing I don't get is how they were able to do this through their ASDP. Their current plan clearly states the sales are "in accordance with a pre-arranged set of instructions, regardless of any subsequent material non-public information the insider may receive. The Co-Founders will not exercise any further discretion or influence over how dispositions will occur under his or her ASDP and they are each subject to restrictions on their ability to modify, suspend or terminate participation in their ASDP."
Their pre-arranged plan was for 15,000 shares a month for 12 months, so how could they classify these sales as under this plan? Its clearly more than 15,000 shares for March, and they have sold 15,000 per month since the start of the plan in Sept 2020. Anyways, that's what perplexed me, but nevertheless, there is probably an exception within the agreement, and it is overall positive in my view regardless of the technicality.
Trade Desk did a similar thing. Jeff Green sold a lot of his holdings through an ASDP at much lower prices than today, and by keeping the low float, TTD clearly has a very high share price today.
One last thing, That 1.4 million MOC trade at Friday's close was interesting too, and discussed here at length. It appears as though TD Securities was heavily involved, and if I were to guess, they are working behind the scenes, given their participation in the last bought deal in Nov 2020, recent coverage, and most likely a main market maker for Acuity (and maybe the founders' independent broker?).
In the end, I thiink this is all positive, and all part of the plan to have a much higher share price in the long run. 20% of a $1 Billion company is $200 Million. 15% of a $10 Billion dollar company is $1.5 Billion. Long term thinking is key for top management, so keeping a long term perspective as a shareholder is equally important, avoiding any of the short term noise, which in a lot of ways are the necessary steps to grow your market cap and investor base. GLTA.