Yahoo Finance John Wood Group PLC (LON:WG.) insiders recover some losses but still US$6.1k away from matching original investment
Some of the losses seen by insiders who purchased US$53k worth of John Wood Group PLC (LON:WG.) shares over the past year were recovered after the stock increased by 4.6% over the past week. The purchase, however, has proven to be a pricey bet, with losses currently totalling US$6.1k.
Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.
View our latest analysis for John Wood Group
John Wood Group Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by Independent Non-Executive Director Adrian R. Marsh for UK£50k worth of shares, at about UK£1.99 per share. That means that even when the share price was higher than UK£1.79 (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.
Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid UK£53k for 26.03k shares. But insiders sold 7.53k shares worth UK£20k. In total, John Wood Group insiders bought more than they sold over the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!
John Wood Group 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
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. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Our data suggests John Wood Group insiders own 0.2% of the company, worth about UK£1.9m. I generally like to see higher levels of ownership.
What Might The Insider Transactions At John Wood Group Tell Us?
The fact that there have been no John Wood Group insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. While we have no worries about the insider transactions, we'd be more comfortable if they owned more John Wood Group 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. To assist with this, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of John Wood Group.
Of course John Wood Group 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, 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.
