Insiders who purchased CA$168.0k worth of Visionary Metals Corp. (CVE:VIZ) shares over the past year recouped some of their losses after price gained 13% last week. However, the purchase is proving to be a costly gamble, since losses made by insiders have totalled CA$22k since the time of purchase.
While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.
Check out our latest analysis for Visionary Metals
Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by insider James Stuckert for CA$104k worth of shares, at about CA$0.05 per share. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at above the current price of CA$0.045. While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. It is generally more encouraging if they paid above the current price, as it suggests they saw value, even at higher levels.
Visionary Metals insiders may have bought shares in the last year, but they didn't sell any. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!
Visionary Metals is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find small cap companies at attractive valuations, this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.
insider James Stuckert bought just CA$32.0 worth of shares in that time. That's not much at all. Overall, we don't think these recent trades are particularly informative, one way or the other.
Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It appears that Visionary Metals insiders own 38% of the company, worth about CA$2.4m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.
We note a that there has been a bit of insider buying recently (but no selling). Overall the buying isn't worth writing home about. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. Overall we don't see anything to make us think Visionary Metals insiders are doubting the company, and they do own shares. While it's good to be aware of what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. To that end, you should learn about the 5 warning signs we've spotted with Visionary Metals (including 4 which are a bit unpleasant).
Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.
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.