Francesco Bellini Is The Chairman of the Board of BELLUS Health Inc. (TSE:BLU) And They Just Picked Up 31% More Shares

Investors who take an interest in BELLUS Health Inc. (TSE:BLU) should definitely note that the Chairman of the Board, Francesco Bellini, recently paid CA$3.67 per share to buy CA$390k worth of the stock. That's a very decent purchase to our minds and it grew their holding by a solid 31%.

View our latest analysis for BELLUS Health

BELLUS Health Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent purchase by Chairman of the Board Francesco Bellini was not the only time they bought BELLUS Health shares this year. Earlier in the year, they paid CA$9.34 per share in a CA$1.3m purchase. That means that even when the share price was higher than CA$4.00 (the recent price), an insider wanted to purchase shares. 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. To us, it's very important to consider the price insiders pay 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.

While BELLUS Health insiders bought shares during the last year, they didn't sell. They paid about CA$7.13 on average. These transactions suggest that insiders have considered the current price attractive. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

BELLUS Health 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.

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. Insiders own 2.8% of BELLUS Health shares, worth about CA$7.4m, according to our data. However, it's possible that insiders might have an indirect interest through a more complex structure. Whilst better than nothing, we're not overly impressed by these holdings.

What Might The Insider Transactions At BELLUS Health Tell Us?

It is good to see recent purchasing. And an analysis of the transactions over the last year also gives us confidence. However, we note that the company didn't make a profit over the last twelve months, which makes us cautious. While the overall levels of insider ownership are below what we'd like to see, the history of transactions imply that BELLUS Health insiders are reasonably well aligned, and optimistic for the future. 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. To help with this, we've discovered 5 warning signs (2 are potentially serious!) that you ought to be aware of before buying any shares in BELLUS Health.

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.

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