Insider Stock Buying Reaches CA$30.1m On George Weston

Over the last year, a good number of insiders have significantly increased their holdings in George Weston Limited (TSE:WN). This is encouraging because it indicates that insiders are more optimistic 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, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.

Check out our latest analysis for George Weston

George Weston Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Chairman & CEO Galen Weston bought CA$25m worth of shares at a price of CA$196 per share. Although we like to see insider buying, we note that this large purchase was at significantly below the recent price of CA$221. 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.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid CA$30m for 149.30k shares. But insiders sold 74.92k shares worth CA$16m. Overall, George Weston insiders were net buyers during the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

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

Insiders At George Weston Have Bought Stock Recently

At George Weston,over the last quarter, we have observed quite a lot more insider buying than insider selling. We can see that insider Camilla Dalglish paid CA$5.1m for shares in the company. But we did see insider selling worth CA$4.5m. The buying outweighs the selling, which suggests that insiders may believe the company will do well in the future.

Does George Weston 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. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. It's great to see that George Weston insiders own 0.5% of the company, worth about CA$149m. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At George Weston Tell Us?

The recent insider purchase is heartening. And an analysis of the transactions over the last year also gives us confidence. Along with the high insider ownership, this analysis suggests that insiders are quite bullish about George Weston. Nice! 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. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for George Weston you should know about.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting 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.