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Investors who take an interest in Victoria PLC (LON:VCP) should definitely note that the Non-Executive Director, Gavin Petken, recently paid UK£0.69 per share to buy UK£176k worth of the stock. That certainly has us anticipating the best, especially since they thusly increased their own holding by 3,213%, potentially signalling some real optimism.
See our latest analysis for Victoria
The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Victoria
Notably, that recent purchase by Gavin Petken is the biggest insider purchase of Victoria shares that we've seen in the last year. Although we like to see insider buying, we note that this large purchase was at significantly below the recent price of UK£0.85. Because the shares were purchased at a lower price, this particular buy doesn't tell us much about how insiders feel about the current share price.
In the last twelve months Victoria insiders were buying shares, but not selling. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!
Victoria is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find small cap companies at attractive valuations, this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.
Does Victoria Boast High 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. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Victoria insiders own about UK£25m worth of shares. That equates to 26% 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.
So What Does This Data Suggest About Victoria Insiders?
It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchases. 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. When combined with notable insider ownership, these factors suggest Victoria insiders are well aligned, and that they may think the share price is too low. While it's good to be aware of what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. While conducting our analysis, we found that Victoria has 2 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore these.