TELUS Insiders Placed Bullish Bets Worth CA$10.7m
Quite a few insiders have dramatically grown their holdings in TELUS Corporation (TSE:T) over the past 12 months. An insider's optimism about the company's prospects is a positive sign.
While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.
Check out our latest analysis for TELUS
TELUS Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by President Darren Entwistle for CA$4.0m worth of shares, at about CA$26.58 per share. That means that even when the share price was higher than CA$24.08 (the recent price), an insider wanted to purchase shares. It's very possible they regret the purchase, but it's more likely they are bullish about the company. 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.
Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid CA$11m for 440.91k shares. But insiders sold 4.06k shares worth CA$98k. In the last twelve months there was more buying than selling by TELUS insiders. 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 always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. So if that suits your style you could check each stock one by one or you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).
TELUS Insiders Bought Stock Recently
It's good to see that TELUS insiders have made notable investments in the company's shares. We can see that EVP & President of Telus Consumer Solutions Zainul Mawji paid CA$246k for shares in the company. No-one sold. This is a positive in our book as it implies some confidence.
Insider Ownership Of TELUS
Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. TELUS insiders own about CA$44m worth of shares. That equates to 0.1% of the company. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.
What Might The Insider Transactions At TELUS Tell Us?
It is good to see the recent insider purchase. And an analysis of the transactions over the last year also gives us confidence. Insiders likely see value in TELUS shares, given these transactions (along with notable insider ownership of the company). So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. Our analysis shows 5 warning signs for TELUS (2 are potentially serious!) and we strongly recommend you look at these before investing.
But note: TELUS may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE 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 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.
