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When a single insider purchases stock, it is typically not a major deal. However, when multiple insiders purchase stock, like in IODM Limited's (ASX:IOD) instance, it's good news for shareholders.
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 IODM
IODM Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by Independent Non-Executive Director Anthony Smith for AU$137k worth of shares, at about AU$0.30 per share. That means that even when the share price was higher than AU$0.29 (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. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock if insiders have bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price.
While IODM insiders bought shares during the last year, they didn't sell. The average buy price was around AU$0.27. It's great to see insiders putting their own cash into the company's stock, albeit at below the recent share price. 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!
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. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. IODM insiders own 44% of the company, currently worth about AU$73m based on the recent share price. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.
So What Does This Data Suggest About IODM Insiders?
The fact that there have been no IODM insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. Judging from their transactions, and high insider ownership, IODM insiders feel good about the company's future. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing IODM. Be aware that IODM is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 2 of those are a bit concerning...