Independent Non-Executive Director Nigel Stein Just Bought A Handful Of Shares In James Hardie Industries plc (ASX:JHX)

Even if it's not a huge purchase, we think it was good to see that Nigel Stein, the Independent Non-Executive Director of James Hardie Industries plc (ASX:JHX) recently shelled out AU$107k to buy stock, at AU$31.51 per share. Nevertheless, it only increased their shareholding by a minuscule percentage, and it wasn't a massive purchase by absolute value, either.

View our latest analysis for James Hardie Industries

James Hardie Industries Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent purchase by Nigel Stein is the biggest insider purchase of James Hardie Industries shares that we've seen in the last year. That means that even when the share price was higher than AU$29.94 (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. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock if insiders have bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price.

In the last twelve months James Hardie Industries insiders were buying shares, but not selling. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and 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!

James Hardie Industries is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying.

Does James Hardie Industries Boast High Insider Ownership?

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. James Hardie Industries insiders own about AU$31m worth of shares. That equates to 0.2% of the company. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At James Hardie Industries Tell Us?

It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchase. And an analysis of the transactions over the last year also gives us confidence. Given that insiders also own a fair bit of James Hardie Industries we think they are probably pretty confident of a bright 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. While conducting our analysis, we found that James Hardie Industries has 2 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore them.

Of course James Hardie Industries may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.

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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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. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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