Insiders who bought Halma plc (LON:HLMA) last year must be regretting not buying more as market cap hits UK£7.8b
Halma plc (LON:HLMA) insiders who purchased shares in the last 12 months were richly rewarded last week. The stock climbed by 3.1% resulting in a UK£231m addition to the company’s market value. Put another way, the original UK£59k acquisition is now worth UK£63k.
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.
View our latest analysis for Halma
Halma Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Senior Independent Director William Rice bought UK£59k worth of shares at a price of UK£19.22 per share. That implies that an insider found the current price of UK£20.61 per share to be enticing. That means they have been optimistic about the company in the past, though they may have changed their mind. 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. Happily, the Halma insider decided to buy shares at close to current prices. The only individual insider to buy over the last year was William Rice.
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!
Halma 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.
Does Halma Boast High Insider Ownership?
Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Insiders own 0.3% of Halma shares, worth about UK£27m. 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 Does This Data Suggest About Halma Insiders?
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. Insiders own shares in Halma and we see no evidence to suggest they are worried about the future. Therefore, you should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Halma.
Of course Halma 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.
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