Insiders who bought Visionstate Corp. (CVE:VIS) stock lover the last 12 months are probably not as affected by last week’s 10.0% loss. After taking the recent loss into consideration, the CA$1.17m worth of stock they bought is now worth CA$1.95m, indicating that their investment yielded a positive return.
While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.
View our latest analysis for Visionstate
Notably, that recent purchase by insider Charles Goble was not the only time they bought Visionstate shares this year. They previously made an even bigger purchase of CA$280k worth of shares at a price of CA$0.02 per share. Although we like to see insider buying, we note that this large purchase was at significantly below the recent price of CA$0.045. While it does suggest insiders consider the stock undervalued at lower prices, this transaction doesn't tell us much about what they think of current prices.
Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 43.26m shares worth CA$1.2m. On the other hand they divested 573.00k shares, for CA$13k. Overall, Visionstate insiders were net buyers during the last year. Their average price was about CA$0.027. We don't deny that it is nice to see insiders buying stock in the company. However, you should keep in mind that they bought when the share price was meaningfully below today's levels. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!
There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. If investing in lesser known companies is your style, you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).
It's good to see that Visionstate insiders have made notable investments in the company's shares. Not only was there no selling that we can see, but they collectively bought CA$1.0m worth of shares. This could be interpreted as suggesting a positive outlook.
For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Visionstate insiders own about CA$3.9m worth of shares (which is 40% of the company). This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.
It is good to see recent purchasing. And an analysis of the transactions over the last year also gives us confidence. However, we note that the company didn't make a profit over the last twelve months, which makes us cautious. Once you factor in the high insider ownership, it certainly seems like insiders are positive about Visionstate. Nice! In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Visionstate. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 6 warning signs for Visionstate (of which 5 are concerning!) you should know about.
But note: Visionstate may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.
For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.