President of Bank of Nova Scotia L. Thomson Buys 13% More Shares

Investors who take an interest in The Bank of Nova Scotia (TSE:BNS) should definitely note that the President, L. Thomson, recently paid CA$72.45 per share to buy CA$500k worth of the stock. That's a very decent purchase to our minds and it grew their holding by a solid 13%.

See our latest analysis for Bank of Nova Scotia

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Bank of Nova Scotia

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Group Head & Chief Risk Officer, Philip Thomas, sold CA$525k worth of shares at a price of CA$79.10 per share. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. It's of some comfort that this sale was conducted at a price well above the current share price, which is CA$68.88. So it may not shed much light on insider confidence at current levels. Philip Thomas was the only individual insider to sell shares in the last twelve months.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid CA$1.9m for 25.79k shares. On the other hand they divested 6.63k shares, for CA$525k. Overall, Bank of Nova Scotia insiders were net buyers during the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

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

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. From our data, it seems that Bank of Nova Scotia insiders own 0.01% of the company, worth about CA$13m. We do generally prefer see higher levels of insider ownership.

So What Do The Bank of Nova Scotia Insider Transactions Indicate?

It is good to see recent purchasing. And an analysis of the transactions over the last year also gives us confidence. Insiders likely see value in Bank of Nova Scotia shares, given these transactions (along with notable insider ownership of the company). Therefore, you should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Bank of Nova Scotia.

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 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.