Insider Stock Buying Reaches CA$3.64m On Stantec

Multiple insiders secured a larger position in Stantec Inc. (TSE:STN) shares over the last 12 months. This is reassuring as this suggests that insiders have increased optimism about the company's prospects.

While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

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Stantec Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Executive VP & CFO Vito Culmone bought CA$1.0m worth of shares at a price of CA$147 per share. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at around the current price of CA$152. That means they have been optimistic about the company in the past, though they may have changed their mind. While we always like to see insider buying, it's less meaningful if the purchases were made at much lower prices, as the opportunity they saw may have passed. Happily, the Stantec insiders decided to buy shares at close to current prices.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 27.46k shares worth CA$3.6m. But insiders sold 2.05k shares worth CA$284k. In total, Stantec insiders bought more than they sold over the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

Check out our latest analysis for Stantec

There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. If investing in lesser known companies is your style, you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Insiders At Stantec Have Bought Stock Recently

Over the last three months, we've seen significant insider buying at Stantec. Not only was there no selling that we can see, but they collectively bought CA$1.2m worth of shares. This is a positive in our book as it implies some confidence.

Insider Ownership

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It appears that Stantec insiders own 0.3% of the company, worth about CA$53m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

So What Do The Stantec Insider Transactions Indicate?

It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchases. And the longer term insider transactions also give us confidence. Given that insiders also own a fair bit of Stantec we think they are probably pretty confident of a bright future. Of course, the future is what matters most. So if you are interested in Stantec, you should check out this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.