How Many Insiders Bought HCP, Inc. (NYSE:HCP) Shares?
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It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. The flip side of that is that there are more than a few examples of insiders dumping stock prior to a period of weak performance. So we’ll take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in HCP, Inc. (NYSE:HCP).
What Is Insider Selling?
It’s quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, rules govern insider transactions, and certain disclosures are required.
We don’t think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions. But equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. For example, a Harvard University study found that ‘insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year.’
See our latest analysis for HCP
HCP Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by Director R. Griffin for US$502k worth of shares, at about US$23.80 per share. We do like to see buying, but this purchase was at a lower price. The insider buying may not tell us much about how insiders feel about the current share price.
Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 35.10k shares worth US$809k. Overall, HCP insiders were net buyers last year. They paid about US$23.05 on average. We don’t deny that it is nice to see insiders buying stock in the company. But we must note that the investments were made at well below today’s share price. You can see the insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!
For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.
Does HCP 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 HCP insiders own 0.2% of the company, worth about US$28m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.
So What Do The HCP Insider Transactions Indicate?
The fact that there have been no HCP insider transactions recently certainly doesn’t bother us. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. Overall we don’t see anything to make us think HCP insiders are doubting the company, and they do own shares. Of course, the future is what matters most. So if you are interested in HCP, you should check out this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.
Of course HCP may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.
To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.
The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
