The recent price decline of 10% in ITC Properties Group Limited's (HKG:199) stock may have disappointed insiders who bought HK$3.30m worth of shares at an average price of HK$0.33 in the past 12 months. Insiders purchase with the hope of seeing their investments increase in value over time. However, due to recent losses, their initial investment is now only worth HK$2.60m, which is not great.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.

Check out our latest analysis for ITC Properties Group

ITC Properties Group Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The Joint Executive Vice Chairman of the Board Kwok Keung Chan made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for HK$3.3m worth of shares at a price of HK$0.33 each. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at above the current price of HK$0.26. 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. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock when an insider has bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price. The only individual insider to buy over the last year was Kwok Keung Chan.

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!

There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of undervalued small cap companies that insiders are buying.

Does ITC Properties Group Boast High Insider Ownership?

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. ITC Properties Group insiders own 65% of the company, currently worth about HK$154m based on the recent share price. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.

So What Do The ITC Properties Group Insider Transactions Indicate?

The recent insider purchase is heartening. And an analysis of the transactions over the last year also gives us confidence. But on the other hand, the company made a loss during the last year, which makes us a little cautious. When combined with notable insider ownership, these factors suggest ITC Properties Group insiders are well aligned, and quite possibly think the share price is too low. Nice! So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. Be aware that ITC Properties Group is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those is a bit unpleasant...

But note: ITC Properties Group may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

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