It is usually uneventful when a single insider buys stock. However, When quite a few insiders buy shares, as it happened in YouGov plc's( LON:YOU ) case, it's fantastic 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.
YouGov Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Co-Founder Stephan Shakespeare bought UK£300k worth of shares at a price of UK£3.46 per share. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at above the current price of UK£2.17. 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. To us, it's very important to consider the price insiders pay for shares. 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.
YouGov insiders may have bought shares in the last year, but they didn't sell any. Their average price was about UK£2.35. This is nice to see since it implies that insiders might see value around current prices. 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!
See our latest analysis for YouGov
YouGov is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find small cap companies at attractive valuations,this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.
Insiders At YouGov Have Bought Stock Recently
It's good to see that YouGov insiders have made notable investments in the company's shares. Not only was there no selling that we can see, but they collectively bought UK£205k worth of shares. This is a positive in our book as it implies some confidence.
Insider Ownership
For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Insiders own 1.9% of YouGov shares, worth about UK£4.7m, according to our data. Overall, this level of ownership isn't that impressive, but it's certainly better than nothing!
What Might The Insider Transactions At YouGov Tell Us?
The recent insider purchases are heartening. And an analysis of the transactions over the last year also gives us confidence. While the overall levels of insider ownership are below what we'd like to see, the history of transactions imply that YouGov insiders are reasonably well aligned, and optimistic for the future. 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. You'd be interested to know, that we found 1 warning sign for YouGov and we suggest you have a look.
Of course YouGov may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.
For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature.
We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice.
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