California Nanotechnologies' Market Cap Up CA$3.1m Following Year Of Insider Stock Buying

California Nanotechnologies Corp. (CVE:CNO) insiders who bought shares over the past year were rewarded handsomely last week. The stock rose 18%, resulting in a CA$3.1m rise in the company's market capitalisation, translating to a gain of 203% on their initial investment. As a result, their original purchase of US$448.0k worth of stock is now worth US$1.36m.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

View our latest analysis for California Nanotechnologies

California Nanotechnologies Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by CEO & Director Eric Eyerman for CA$333k worth of shares, at about CA$0.15 per share. Even though the purchase was made at a significantly lower price than the recent price (CA$0.46), we still think insider buying is a positive. While it does suggest insiders consider the stock undervalued at lower prices, this transaction doesn't tell us much about what they think of current prices.

In the last twelve months California Nanotechnologies 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. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Insider Ownership Of California Nanotechnologies

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. California Nanotechnologies insiders own about CA$3.7m worth of shares. That equates to 20% 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.

So What Does This Data Suggest About California Nanotechnologies Insiders?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded California Nanotechnologies shares in the last quarter. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. Insiders do have a stake in California Nanotechnologies and their transactions don't cause us concern. 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. To that end, you should learn about the 4 warning signs we've spotted with California Nanotechnologies (including 1 which is a bit concerning).

Of course California Nanotechnologies 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 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.