Investors who take an interest in Del Taco Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:TACO) should definitely note that the Independent Chairman, Lawrence Levy, recently paid US$8.38 per share to buy US$426k worth of the stock. That's a very solid buy in our book, and increased their holding by a noteworthy 16%.
View our latest analysis for Del Taco Restaurants
Del Taco Restaurants Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
The Independent Director Ari Levy made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$606k worth of shares at a price of US$2.67 each. Even though the purchase was made at a significantly lower price than the recent price (US$8.68), we still think insider buying is a positive. Because it occurred at a lower valuation, it doesn't tell us much about whether insiders might find today's price attractive.
Del Taco Restaurants insiders may have bought shares in the last year, but they didn't sell any. They paid about US$4.01 on average. To my mind it is good that insiders have invested their own money in the company. But we must note that the investments were made at well below today's share price. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!
There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.
Insider Ownership
For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It appears that Del Taco Restaurants insiders own 7.4% of the company, worth about US$24m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.
So What Does This Data Suggest About Del Taco Restaurants Insiders?
It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchases. And the longer term insider transactions also give us confidence. However, we note that the company didn't make a profit over the last twelve months, which makes us cautious. Insiders likely see value in Del Taco Restaurants shares, given these transactions (along with notable insider ownership of the company). So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. While conducting our analysis, we found that Del Taco Restaurants has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore it.