Yahoo Finance Have Insiders Been Buying Countrywide plc (LON:CWD) Shares?
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We’ve lost count of how many times insiders have accumulated shares in a company that goes on to improve markedly. 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 shareholders might well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Countrywide plc (LON:CWD).
Do Insider Transactions Matter?
Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock on the market. However, such insiders must disclose their trading activities, and not trade on inside information.
Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. 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 Countrywide
Countrywide Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Executive Chairman Peter Long bought UK£287k worth of shares at a price of UK£0.10 per share. That implies that an insider found the current (approximate) price enticing. 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. We generally consider it a positive if insiders have been buying on market, even if the share price has increased a bit since then.
Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 6.74m shares worth UK£965k. In total, Countrywide insiders bought more than they sold over the last year. Their average price was about UK£0.14. This is nice to see since it implies that insiders might see value around current prices (around UK£0.11). You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by 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!
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
Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. From looking at our data, insiders own UK£1.1m worth of Countrywide stock, about 0.6% of the company. We consider this fairly low insider ownership.
So What Does This Data Suggest About Countrywide Insiders?
It doesn’t really mean much that no insider has traded Countrywide shares in the last quarter. However, our analysis of transactions over the last year is heartening. The transactions are fine but it’d be more encouraging if Countrywide insiders bought more shares in the company. Therefore, you should should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Countrywide.
But note: Countrywide may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.
To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.
The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
