Yahoo Finance A number of insiders bought Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) stock last year, which is great news for shareholders
When a single insider purchases stock, it is typically not a major deal. However, when multiple insiders purchase stock, like in Empire Company Limited's (TSE:EMP.A) 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.
See our latest analysis for Empire
Empire Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when President Michael Medline bought CA$300k worth of shares at a price of CA$37.39 per share. We do like to see buying, but this purchase was made at well below the current price of CA$42.58. Because it occurred at a lower valuation, it doesn't tell us much about whether insiders might find today's price attractive.
While Empire insiders bought shares during the last year, they didn't sell. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and 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!
Empire is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.
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. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Empire insiders own about CA$107m worth of shares. That equates to 1.0% of the company. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.
So What Do The Empire Insider Transactions Indicate?
There haven't been any insider transactions in the last three months -- that doesn't mean much. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. It would be great to see more insider buying, but overall it seems like Empire insiders are reasonably well aligned (owning significant chunk of the company's shares) and optimistic for the future. If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future.
Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting 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, but not derivative transactions.
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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. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
