The Lake Resources N.L. (ASX: LKE) share price is having a very poor start to the week.
At the time of writing, the lithium developer's shares are down 12% to a 52-week low of 42 cents.
This means the Lake Resources share price is now down approximately 75% over the last 12 months, as you can see on the chart below.
Image source: Getty Images
Why is the Lake Resources share price crashing?
The latest weakness in the Lake Resources share price has been driven by news that an insider has been selling shares.
Insider selling rarely goes down well with the market. After all, the theory goes that if an insider was confident that a company's shares were heading higher, they wouldn't be selling them.
On this occasion, the seller has been Lake Resources' non-executive chairman, Stu Crow.
According to the release, the company's chairman has sold a total of 7,919,367 Lakes shares through on-market trades between 17 March and 23 March. Crow received a total consideration of $3,893,187.77, which represents an average of 49.16 cents per share.
Why was its chairman selling?
The company provided an explanation for the insider selling. It advised:
These sales were made under advice to meet personal financial obligations.
In addition, the company revealed that Crow has no plans to sell any more Lake Resources shares and remains one of its largest private shareholders. It adds:
Mr. Crow currently has no plans to sell any additional shares in the foreseeable future. Mr Crow remains committed to Lake Resources as it transitions from explorer toward development. As a founding shareholder, Mr. Crow has been actively involved in driving the growth of Lake Resources since its inception. Mr Crow remains one of the company's largest private shareholders with a relevant interest in 10,000,000 shares following the recent sales.
