Brian Kocher Bought 106% More Shares In SunOpta
Potential SunOpta Inc. (NASDAQ:STKL) shareholders may wish to note that the CEO & Director, Brian Kocher, recently bought US$253k worth of stock, paying US$6.65 for each share. That certainly has us anticipating the best, especially since they thusly increased their own holding by 106%, potentially signalling some real optimism.
See our latest analysis for SunOpta
SunOpta Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
In fact, the recent purchase by Brian Kocher was the biggest purchase of SunOpta shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, at around the current price, which is US$6.90. Of course they may have changed their mind. But this suggests they are optimistic. While we always like to see insider buying, it's less meaningful if the purchases were made at much lower prices, as the opportunity they saw may have passed. The good news for SunOpta share holders is that insiders were buying at near the current price.
Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 104.00k shares worth US$697k. On the other hand they divested 59.00k shares, for US$307k. Overall, SunOpta insiders were net buyers during 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!
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 Of SunOpta
For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. SunOpta insiders own about US$32m worth of shares. That equates to 4.0% of the company. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.
So What Do The SunOpta Insider Transactions Indicate?
It is good to see the recent insider purchase. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. But on the other hand, the company made a loss during the last year, which makes us a little cautious. Given that insiders also own a fair bit of SunOpta we think they are probably pretty confident of a bright future. While we like knowing what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. While conducting our analysis, we found that SunOpta has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore it.
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 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. 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.
