Chief Executive Officer & Executive Director of Atomos Peter Barber Buys 9.1% More Shares

Even if it's not a huge purchase, we think it was good to see that Peter Barber, the Chief Executive Officer & Executive Director of Atomos Limited (ASX:AMS) recently shelled out AU$85k to buy stock, at AU$0.0094 per share. Although the purchase is not a big one, increasing their shareholding by only 9.1%, it can be interpreted as a good sign.

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Atomos Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent purchase by Peter Barber was the biggest purchase of Atomos shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. Even though the purchase was made at a significantly lower price than the recent price (AU$0.015), we still think insider buying is a positive. Because it occurred at a lower valuation, it doesn't tell us much about whether insiders might find today's price attractive.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid AU$112k for 9.81m shares. On the other hand they divested 100.00k shares, for AU$10.0k. In the last twelve months there was more buying than selling by Atomos insiders. The average buy price was around AU$0.011. To my mind it is good that insiders have invested their own money in the company. But we must note that the investments were made at well below today's share price. 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!

Check out our latest analysis for Atomos

Atomos is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of under-the-radar companies with insider buying.

Does Atomos Boast High Insider Ownership?

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Atomos insiders own about AU$3.9m worth of shares. That equates to 22% 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 Atomos Tell Us?

The recent insider purchase is heartening. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. But on the other hand, the company made a loss during the last year, which makes us a little cautious. Given that insiders also own a fair bit of Atomos 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. For instance, we've identified 5 warning signs for Atomos (4 are significant) you should be aware of.

But note: Atomos 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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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. 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.