Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card!

It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. The flip side of that is that there are more than a few examples of insiders dumping stock prior to a period of weak performance. So before you buy or sell Barclays PLC (LON:BARC), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.

Do Insider Transactions Matter?

It’s quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, rules govern insider transactions, and certain disclosures are required.

We don’t think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. As Peter Lynch said, ‘insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise.’

Check out our latest analysis for Barclays

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Barclays

Ashok Vaswani made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for UK£732k worth of shares at a price of UK£2.06 each. Although we don’t gain confidence from insider selling, we note that this large sale was at well above current price of UK£1.56. So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 1.42m shares for UK£2.7m. But they sold 385.39k for UK£797k. Overall, Barclays insiders were net buyers last year. They paid about UK£1.89 on average. These transactions suggest that insiders have considered the current price of UK£1.56 attractive. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

Barclays is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Insiders at Barclays Have Bought Stock Recently

Over the last quarter, Barclays insiders have spent a meaningful amount on shares. Non-Executive Director Michael Ashley spent UK£50k on stock, and there wasn’t any selling. This makes one think the business has some good points.

Insider Ownership of Barclays

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. I reckon it’s a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Insiders own 0.07% of Barclays shares, worth about UK£19m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.