Last week, WhiteHawk Limited (ASX:WHK) insiders, who had purchased shares in the previous 12 months were rewarded handsomely. The shares increased by 10.0% last week, resulting in a AU$2.2m increase in the company's market worth, implying a 10% gain on their initial purchase. Put another way, the original US$325.0k acquisition is now worth US$357.5k.
While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.
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In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Independent Non-Executive Director Giuseppe Porcelli bought AU$250k worth of shares at a price of AU$0.01 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, at around the current price, which is AU$0.011. That means they have been optimistic about the company in the past, though they may have changed their mind. We do always like to see insider buying, but it is worth noting if those purchases were made at well below today's share price, as the discount to value may have narrowed with the rising price. The good news for WhiteHawk share holders is that an insider was buying at near the current price. Giuseppe Porcelli was the only individual insider to buy shares in the last twelve months.
Giuseppe Porcelli purchased 32.50m shares over the year. The average price per share was AU$0.01. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!
Check out our latest analysis for WhiteHawk
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.
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 WhiteHawk insiders own 18% of the company, worth about AU$1.8m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.
The fact that there have been no WhiteHawk insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. Overall we don't see anything to make us think WhiteHawk insiders are doubting the company, and they do own shares. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. When we did our research, we found 4 warning signs for WhiteHawk (3 make us uncomfortable!) that we believe deserve your full attention.
But note: WhiteHawk 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.
Discover if WhiteHawk might be undervalued or overvalued with our detailed analysis, featuring fair value estimates, potential risks, dividends, insider trades, and its financial condition.
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