Insider Spends AU$469k Buying More Shares In COG Financial Services

Potential COG Financial Services Limited (ASX:COG) shareholders may wish to note that the Independent Non-Executive Director, John Dwyer, recently bought AU$469k worth of stock, paying AU$1.87 for each share. While that's a very decent purchase to our minds, it was proportionally a bit modest, boosting their holding by just 5.6%.

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The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At COG Financial Services

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the Non-executive Director, Cameron McCullagh, for AU$20m worth of shares, at about AU$1.00 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even below the current price of AU$2.01. We generally consider it a negative if insiders have been selling, especially if they did so below the current price, because it implies that they considered a lower price to be reasonable. While insider selling is not a positive sign, we can't be sure if it does mean insiders think the shares are fully valued, so it's only a weak sign. We note that the biggest single sale was only 45% of Cameron McCullagh's holding.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid AU$1.2m for 858.09k shares. On the other hand they divested 20.14m shares, for AU$20m. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of COG Financial Services shares, than buying. They sold for an average price of about AU$1.00. It's not too encouraging to see that insiders have sold at below the current price. Of course, the sales could be motivated for a multitude of reasons, so we shouldn't jump to conclusions. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart 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 COG Financial Services

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Does COG Financial Services Boast High Insider Ownership?

I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It appears that COG Financial Services insiders own 19% of the company, worth about AU$75m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

What Might The Insider Transactions At COG Financial Services Tell Us?

It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchase. However, the longer term transactions are not so encouraging. The more recent transactions are a positive, but COG Financial Services insiders haven't shown the sustained enthusiasm that we look for, although they do own a decent number of shares, overall. So they seem pretty well aligned, overall. 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 2 warning signs for COG Financial Services (1 is a bit concerning!) that we believe deserve your full attention.

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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.