Insider Buying: Ricardo Chairman Bought UK£103k Of Shares
Potential Ricardo plc (LON:RCDO) shareholders may wish to note that the Chairman, Mark Clare, recently bought UK£103k worth of stock, paying UK£5.13 for each share. However, it only increased shareholding by a small percentage, and it wasn't a huge purchase by absolute value, either.
See our latest analysis for Ricardo
Ricardo Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
Notably, that recent purchase by Mark Clare is the biggest insider purchase of Ricardo shares that we've seen in the last year. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at above the current price of UK£5.10. 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. 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.
In the last twelve months Ricardo insiders were buying shares, but not selling. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!
There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.
Insider Ownership
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. From what we can see in our data, insiders own only about UK£570k worth of Ricardo shares. It's always possible we are missing something but from our data, it looks like insider ownership is minimal.
What Might The Insider Transactions At Ricardo Tell Us?
It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchases. And the longer term insider transactions also give us confidence. However, we note that the company didn't make a profit over the last twelve months, which makes us cautious. While the overall levels of insider ownership are below what we'd like to see, the history of transactions imply that Ricardo insiders are reasonably well aligned, and optimistic for the 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. You'd be interested to know, that we found 1 warning sign for Ricardo and we suggest you have a look.
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.
