Insider Spends US$53k Buying More Shares In AudioEye

Whilst it may not be a huge deal, we thought it was good to see that the AudioEye, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEYE) Independent Director, James Hawkins, recently bought US$53k worth of stock, for US$13.15 per share. However, it only increased their shares held by 2.0%, and it wasn't a huge purchase by absolute value, either.

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The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At AudioEye

Notably, that recent purchase by Independent Director James Hawkins was not the only time they bought AudioEye shares this year. Earlier in the year, they paid US$5.91 per share in a US$220k purchase. Although we like to see insider buying, we note that this large purchase was at significantly below the recent price of US$12.06. Because it occurred at a lower valuation, it doesn't tell us much about whether insiders might find today's price attractive.

In the last twelve months AudioEye insiders were buying shares, but not selling. The average buy price was around US$8.01. To my mind it is good that insiders have invested their own money 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 companies and 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!

View our latest analysis for AudioEye

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Does AudioEye Boast High Insider Ownership?

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company 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. AudioEye insiders own about US$23m worth of shares. That equates to 15% 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.

So What Do The AudioEye Insider Transactions Indicate?

The recent insider purchase is heartening. And the longer term insider transactions also give us confidence. However, we note that the company didn't make a profit over the last twelve months, which makes us cautious. Given that insiders also own a fair bit of AudioEye we think they are probably pretty confident of a bright future. While it's good to be aware of what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. To assist with this, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of AudioEye.

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 of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

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