Insider Stock Buying Reaches US$2.67m On Element Fleet Management

When a single insider purchases stock, it is typically not a major deal. However, when multiple insiders purchase stock, like in Element Fleet Management Corp.'s (TSE:EFN) instance, it's good news for shareholders.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

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Element Fleet Management Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the Vice Chair, James Halliday, for CA$1.1m worth of shares, at about CA$31.50 per share. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of CA$33.20, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. As a general rule we consider it to be discouraging when insiders are selling below the current price, because it suggests they were happy with a lower valuation. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. We note that the biggest single sale was only 39% of James Halliday's holding. The only individual insider seller over the last year was James Halliday.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 94.54k shares worth CA$2.7m. On the other hand they divested 35.00k shares, for CA$1.1m. In the last twelve months there was more buying than selling by Element Fleet Management insiders. 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!

View our latest analysis for Element Fleet Management

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).

Element Fleet Management Insiders Are Selling The Stock

We've seen more insider selling than insider buying at Element Fleet Management recently. In that time, Vice Chair James Halliday dumped CA$1.1m worth of shares. On the other hand we note insiders bought CA$201k worth of shares. Generally this level of net selling might be considered a bit bearish.

Does Element Fleet Management 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. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Element Fleet Management insiders own about CA$23m worth of shares. That equates to 0.2% of the company. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

So What Do The Element Fleet Management Insider Transactions Indicate?

The insider sales have outweighed the insider buying, at Element Fleet Management, in the last three months. On the other hand, the insider transactions over the last year are encouraging. It's good to see insiders are shareholders. So we're not overly bothered by recent selling. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Element Fleet Management. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Element Fleet Management you should be aware of, and 1 of these shouldn't be ignored.

But note: Element Fleet Management 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.