Are Insiders Buying Barclays PLC (LON:BARC) Stock?

We often see insiders buying up shares in companies that perform well over the long term. 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, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market.

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.'

See our latest analysis for Barclays

Barclays Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by Group CEO & Executive Director James Staley for UK£294k worth of shares, at about UK£1.50 per share. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at above the current price of UK£1.40. 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. It is generally more encouraging if they paid above the current price, as it suggests they saw value, even at higher levels.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 1.4m shares worth UK£2.3m. But insiders sold 125k shares worth UK£199k. Overall, Barclays insiders were net buyers last year. You can see the insider transactions (by 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!

Barclays Insiders Bought Stock Recently

At Barclays,over the last quarter, we have observed quite a lot more insider buying than insider selling. In fact, 11 insiders bought UK£1.0m worth of shares. But we did see Robert Hoyt sell shares worth UK£37k. Insiders have spent more buying shares than they have selling, so on balance we think they are are probably optimistic.

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. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Barclays insiders own about UK£19m worth of shares. That equates to 0.08% 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 Do The Barclays Insider Transactions Indicate?

The recent insider purchases are heartening. And an analysis of the transactions over the last year also gives us confidence. Given that insiders also own a fair bit of Barclays we think they are probably pretty confident of a bright future. Therefore, you should should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Barclays.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity 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, but not derivative transactions.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.