The President of Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEIS), Stephen Kelley, Just Bought 21% More Shares

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Those following along with Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEIS) will no doubt be intrigued by the recent purchase of shares by Stephen Kelley, President of the company, who spent a stonking US$502k on stock at an average price of US$85.85. Aside from being a solid chunk in its own right, the deft move also saw their holding increase by some 21%.

Check out our latest analysis for Advanced Energy Industries

Advanced Energy Industries Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent purchase by Stephen Kelley is the biggest insider purchase of Advanced Energy Industries 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 US$84.47. 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. We always take careful note of the price insiders pay when purchasing shares. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock when an insider has bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price. Stephen Kelley was the only individual insider to buy shares in the last twelve months.

Stephen Kelley bought 11.70k shares over the last 12 months at an average price of US$85.43. 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!

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insider-trading-volume

Advanced Energy Industries is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying.

Insider Ownership of Advanced Energy Industries

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. It appears that Advanced Energy Industries insiders own 1.2% of the company, worth about US$40m. 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 Advanced Energy Industries Insider Transactions Indicate?

It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchase. And the longer term insider transactions also give us confidence. When combined with notable insider ownership, these factors suggest Advanced Energy Industries insiders are well aligned, and that they may think the share price is too low. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. While conducting our analysis, we found that Advanced Energy Industries has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore it.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

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.

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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