In This Article:
We've lost count of how many times insiders have accumulated shares in a company that goes on to improve markedly. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of examples of share prices declining precipitously after insiders have sold shares. So before you buy or sell Pro-Pac Packaging Limited (ASX:PPG), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.
What Is Insider Selling?
Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock in the company. However, such insiders must disclose their trading activities, and not trade on inside information.
Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. For example, a Harvard University study found that 'insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year.
View our latest analysis for Pro-Pac Packaging
Pro-Pac Packaging Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Non-Executive Independent Chairman Jonathan Ling bought AU$200k worth of shares at a price of AU$0.14 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being AU$0.12). Their view may have changed since then, but at least it shows they felt optimistic at the time. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. Generally speaking, it catches our eye when insiders have purchased shares at above current prices, as it suggests they believed the shares were worth buying, even at a higher price.
Pro-Pac Packaging insiders may have bought shares in the last year, but they didn't sell any. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!
Pro-Pac Packaging 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.
Does Pro-Pac Packaging Boast High Insider Ownership?
I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. From our data, it seems that Pro-Pac Packaging insiders own 7.4% of the company, worth about AU$7.2m. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. Overall, this level of ownership isn't that impressive, but it's certainly better than nothing!