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Even if it's not a huge purchase, we think it was good to see that John Allan, the Non-Executive Chairman of Tesco PLC (LON:TSCO) recently shelled out UK£67k to buy stock, at UK£2.22 per share. However, it only increased their shares held by 9.8%, and it wasn't a huge purchase by absolute value, either.
See our latest analysis for Tesco
Tesco Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
In fact, the recent purchase by John Allan was the biggest purchase of Tesco shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being UK£2.19). It's very possible they regret the purchase, but it's more likely they are bullish about the company. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. Generally speaking, it catches our eye when insiders have purchased shares at above current prices, as it suggests they believed the shares were worth buying, even at a higher price.
Tesco 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 want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!
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).
Insider Ownership
I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Our data suggests Tesco insiders own 0.02% of the company, worth about UK£3.4m. We prefer to see high levels of insider ownership.
So What Do The Tesco Insider Transactions Indicate?
It is good to see the recent insider purchase. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. On this analysis the only slight negative we see is the fairly low (overall) insider ownership; their transactions suggest that they are quite positive on Tesco stock. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. At Simply Wall St, we've found that Tesco has 3 warning signs (1 makes us a bit uncomfortable!) that deserve your attention before going any further with your analysis.