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It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. On the other hand, we'd be remiss not to mention that insider sales have been known to precede tough periods for a business. So before you buy or sell Bukit Sembawang Estates Limited (SGX:B61), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.
What Is Insider Selling?
It's quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, rules govern insider transactions, and certain disclosures are required.
Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. For example, a Columbia University study found that 'insiders are more likely to engage in open market purchases of their own company’s stock when the firm is about to reveal new agreements with customers and suppliers'.
Check out our latest analysis for Bukit Sembawang Estates
Bukit Sembawang Estates Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
In fact, the recent purchase by Chien Shih Lee was the biggest purchase of Bukit Sembawang Estates shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. That means that even when the share price was higher than S$5.12 (the recent price), an insider wanted to purchase shares. Their view may have changed since then, but at least it shows they felt optimistic at the time. 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. Chien Shih Lee was the only individual insider to buy over the year.
The chart below shows insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!
Bukit Sembawang Estates is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying.
Insider Ownership of Bukit Sembawang Estates
Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Our data suggests Bukit Sembawang Estates insiders own 0.2% of the company, worth about S$3.0m. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. We consider this fairly low insider ownership.