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In the last year, multiple insiders have substantially increased their holdings of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) stock, indicating that insiders' optimism about the company's prospects has increased.
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.
See our latest analysis for Global Payments
Global Payments Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by CEO & Director Jeffrey Sloan for US$500k worth of shares, at about US$170 per share. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at above the current price of US$137. While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. To us, it's very important to consider the price insiders pay for shares. 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.
Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 6.19k shares worth US$1.0m. But insiders sold 1.01k shares worth US$133k. In total, Global Payments insiders bought more than they sold over the last year. 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!
Global Payments is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying.
Insiders at Global Payments Have Sold Stock Recently
The last quarter saw substantial insider selling of Global Payments shares. In total, Executive VP & Chief Accounting Officer David Sheffield dumped US$133k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. Overall this makes us a bit cautious, but it's not the be all and end all.
Insider Ownership
Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Global Payments insiders own 1.0% of the company, currently worth about US$388m based on the recent share price. Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.