In This Article:
Even if it's not a huge purchase, we think it was good to see that Wallis Marsh, a U.S. Energy Corp. (NASDAQ:USEG) insider, recently shelled out US$90k to buy stock, at US$2.98 per share. Nevertheless, it only increased their shareholding by a minuscule percentage, and it wasn't a massive purchase by absolute value, either.
See our latest analysis for U.S. Energy
The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At U.S. Energy
In fact, the recent purchase by Wallis Marsh was the biggest purchase of U.S. Energy shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. That means that even when the share price was higher than US$2.73 (the recent price), an insider wanted to purchase shares. It's very possible they regret the purchase, but it's more likely they are bullish about the company. 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.
In the last twelve months U.S. Energy insiders were buying shares, but not selling. They paid about US$3.35 on average. This is nice to see since it implies that insiders might see value around current prices. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!
There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.
Insider Ownership Of U.S. Energy
Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It appears that U.S. Energy insiders own 21% of the company, worth about US$14m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.
So What Does This Data Suggest About U.S. Energy Insiders?
It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchase. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. 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 U.S. Energy we think they are probably pretty confident of a bright future. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing U.S. Energy. For example, U.S. Energy has 5 warning signs (and 4 which don't sit too well with us) we think you should know about.