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We often see insiders buying up shares in companies that perform well over the long term. The flip side of that is that there are more than a few examples of insiders dumping stock prior to a period of weak performance. So before you buy or sell China Smarter Energy Group Holdings Limited (HKG:1004), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.
What Is Insider Buying?
It is perfectly legal for company insiders, including board members, to buy and sell stock in a company. However, rules govern insider transactions, and certain disclosures are required.
We would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing. But equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. As Peter Lynch said, 'insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise.'
View our latest analysis for China Smarter Energy Group Holdings
The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At China Smarter Energy Group Holdings
Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by Leong Lai for HK$10m worth of shares, at about HK$0.88 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being HK$0.47). 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. We always take careful note of the price insiders pay when purchasing shares. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock when an insider has bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price. The only individual insider to buy over the last year was Leong Lai.
You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by 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. So if that suits your style you could check each stock one by one or you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).
Does China Smarter Energy Group Holdings Boast High Insider Ownership?
Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Our data indicates that China Smarter Energy Group Holdings insiders own about HK$45m worth of shares (which is 1.0% of the company). But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. We do generally prefer see higher levels of insider ownership.