DroneShield Ltd (ASX:DRO, OTC:DRSHF) shares slumped 25% to a four-month low of $2.42 on Thursday after disclosures revealed that chief executive Oleg Vornik, chairman Peter James and director Jethro Marks had sold all of their ordinary shares in recent days.
The stock is now testing its 200-day moving average at $2.45 for the first time since April and has fallen about 64% from its record high earlier this year.
According to a late Wednesday filing, Vornik sold his entire holding of 14,806,833 shares for approximately $50 million at the end of last week. James and Marks also divested their recently vested incentive shares, worth about $12.4 million and $4.9 million respectively.
Following the transactions, all three hold only performance shares and options.
The selling activity follows an error-ridden announcement on November 10, when DroneShield reported a $7.6 million “new order” before withdrawing the statement hours later, acknowledging it was an older order mistakenly reissued. The incident initially triggered a brief share-price spike before gains were reversed.
Market observers expect heightened volatility as investors digest the series of director sales alongside the contract retraction. Fund managers say the cluster of disposals may undermine confidence given management’s recent commentary on a strong sales pipeline and the stock’s elevated valuation.