Barrick Gold President Acquires 3.6% More Stock

Those following along with Barrick Gold Corporation (TSE:ABX) will no doubt be intrigued by the recent purchase of shares by Dennis Bristow, President of the company, who spent a stonking CA$5.9m on stock at an average price of CA$25.72. While that only increased their holding size by 3.6%, it is still a big swing by our standards.

Check out our latest analysis for Barrick Gold

Barrick Gold Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent purchase by Dennis Bristow is the biggest insider purchase of Barrick Gold shares that we've seen in the last year. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being CA$25.68). While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. Generally speaking, it catches our eye when insiders have purchased shares at above current prices, as it suggests they believed the shares were worth buying, even at a higher price.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 1.21m shares worth CA$31m. But they sold 619.04k shares for CA$16m. In the last twelve months there was more buying than selling by Barrick Gold insiders. 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!

Barrick Gold is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find small cap companies at attractive valuations, this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Does Barrick Gold Boast High Insider Ownership?

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It's great to see that Barrick Gold insiders own 0.8% of the company, worth about CA$335m. 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 Barrick Gold Tell Us?

It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchases. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. When combined with notable insider ownership, these factors suggest Barrick Gold insiders are well aligned, and quite possibly think the share price is too low. One for the watchlist, at least! 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. While conducting our analysis, we found that Barrick Gold has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore this.

Of course Barrick Gold 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.