Insiders who purchased Truscott Mining Corporation Limited (ASX:TRM) shares in the past 12 months are unlikely to be deeply impacted by the stock's 10% decline over the past week. After taking the recent loss into consideration, the AU$336.8k worth of stock they bought is now worth AU$467.6k, indicating that their investment yielded a positive return.
Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.
In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Executive Chairman & MD Peter Smith bought AU$136k worth of shares at a price of AU$0.049 per share. Although we like to see insider buying, we note that this large purchase was at significantly below the recent price of AU$0.08. Because the shares were purchased at a lower price, this particular buy doesn't tell us much about how insiders feel about the current share price.
Peter Smith bought 5.84m shares over the last 12 months at an average price of AU$0.058. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!
Check out our latest analysis for Truscott Mining
Truscott Mining is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find small cap companies at attractive valuations, this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.
For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It's great to see that Truscott Mining insiders own 71% of the company, worth about AU$11m. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.
Our data shows a little insider buying, but no selling, in the last three months. The net investment is not enough to encourage us much. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. It would be great to see more insider buying, but overall it seems like Truscott Mining insiders are reasonably well aligned (owning significant chunk of the company's shares) and optimistic for the future. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Truscott Mining. For example, Truscott Mining has 3 warning signs (and 2 which are concerning) we think you should know about.
But note: Truscott Mining 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.