Dennis Bristow Bought 1.4% More Shares In Barrick Gold

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$2.1m on stock at an average price of CA$25.14. While that only increased their holding size by 1.4%, it is still a big swing by our standards.

View our latest analysis for Barrick Gold

Barrick Gold Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The Chief Operating Officer of Latin America & Asia Pacific, Mark Hill, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for CA$5.5m worth of shares at a price of CA$24.30 each. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even slightly below the current price of CA$24.68. 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. Please do note, however, that sellers may have a variety of reasons for selling, so we don't know for sure what they think of the stock price. This single sale was 69% of Mark Hill's stake.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid CA$22m for 1.03m shares. But they sold 602.90k shares for CA$15m. In total, Barrick Gold insiders bought more than they sold over the last year. 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 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).

Insider Ownership Of Barrick Gold

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by 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. Barrick Gold insiders own about CA$293m worth of shares (which is 0.7% of the company). This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.

So What Do The Barrick Gold Insider Transactions Indicate?

The recent insider purchases are heartening. And the longer term insider transactions also give us confidence. 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. Nice! In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Barrick Gold. In terms of investment risks, we've identified 1 warning sign with Barrick Gold and understanding this should be part of your investment process.

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.