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It is usually uneventful when a single insider buys stock. However, When quite a few insiders buy shares, as it happened in Veren Inc.'s (TSE:VRN) case, it's fantastic news for shareholders.
While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.
View our latest analysis for Veren
Veren Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
The insider William Holt made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for CA$500k worth of shares at a price of CA$10.15 each. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at above the current price of CA$9.75. Their view may have changed since then, but at least it shows they felt optimistic at the time. We always take careful note of the price insiders pay when purchasing shares. It is generally more encouraging if they paid above the current price, as it suggests they saw value, even at higher levels.
Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 107.79k shares worth CA$1.1m. But insiders sold 47.13k shares worth CA$527k. Overall, Veren insiders were net buyers during the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!
There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. If investing in lesser known companies is your style, you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).
Veren Insiders Are Selling The Stock
Over the last three months, we've seen significant insider selling at Veren. In total, Senior Vice President of Business Development Shelly Witwer dumped CA$263k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. In light of this it's hard to argue that all the insiders think that the shares are a bargain.
Insider Ownership
Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Veren insiders own about CA$39m worth of shares. That equates to 0.6% 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.