Have Insiders Been Buying Energy Action Limited (ASX:EAX) Shares This Year?
It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. 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 Energy Action Limited (ASX:EAX).
What Is Insider Selling?
It is perfectly legal for company insiders, including board members, to buy and sell stock in a company. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market.
We would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. As Peter Lynch said, 'insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise.'
See our latest analysis for Energy Action
The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Energy Action
Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by insider Bruce Macfarlane for AU$356k worth of shares, at about AU$0.31 per share. That means that even when the share price was higher than AU$0.30 (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.
In the last twelve months insiders purchased 2.6m shares for AU$795k. On the other hand they divested 379k shares, for AU$199k. Overall, Energy Action insiders were net buyers last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by 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!
Energy Action 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.
Energy Action Insiders Bought Stock Recently
Over the last quarter, Energy Action insiders have spent a meaningful amount on shares. In total, insiders bought AU$98k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any sales whatsoever. This is a positive in our book as it implies some confidence.
Does Energy Action Boast High 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. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It appears that Energy Action insiders own 33% of the company, worth about AU$2.8m. 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 Do The Energy Action Insider Transactions Indicate?
It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchases. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. However, we note that the company didn't make a profit over the last twelve months, which makes us cautious. When combined with notable insider ownership, these factors suggest Energy Action insiders are well aligned, and that they may think the share price is too low. Along with insider transactions, I recommend checking if Energy Action is growing revenue. This free chart of historic revenue and earnings should make that easy.
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, but not derivative transactions.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
