Potential aTyr Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:LIFE) shareholders may wish to note that the Independent Director, Paul Schimmel, recently bought US$450k worth of stock, paying US$2.25 for each share. That's a very decent purchase to our minds and it grew their holding by a solid 25%.
View our latest analysis for aTyr Pharma
aTyr Pharma Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
Notably, that recent purchase by Paul Schimmel is the biggest insider purchase of aTyr Pharma shares that we've seen in the last year. That implies that an insider found the current price of US$2.37 per share to be enticing. Of course they may have changed their mind. But this suggests they are optimistic. While we always like to see insider buying, it's less meaningful if the purchases were made at much lower prices, as the opportunity they saw may have passed. The good news for aTyr Pharma share holders is that insiders were buying at near the current price.
While aTyr Pharma insiders bought shares during the last year, they didn't sell. 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!
aTyr Pharma 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 aTyr Pharma
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. aTyr Pharma insiders own about US$13m worth of shares. That equates to 10% of the company. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.
What Might The Insider Transactions At aTyr Pharma 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. But on the other hand, the company made a loss during the last year, which makes us a little cautious. When combined with notable insider ownership, these factors suggest aTyr Pharma insiders are well aligned, and that they may think the share price is too low. 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. To that end, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with aTyr Pharma (including 1 which is potentially serious).