Judges Scientific Independent Non-Executive Director Acquires 203% More Stock

Potential Judges Scientific plc (LON:JDG) shareholders may wish to note that the Independent Non-Executive Director, Lushani Kodituwakku, recently bought UK£123k worth of stock, paying UK£74.15 for each share. That certainly has us anticipating the best, especially since they thusly increased their own holding by 203%, potentially signalling some real optimism.

See our latest analysis for Judges Scientific

Judges Scientific Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the CEO & Executive Director, David Cicurel, for UK£6.0m worth of shares, at about UK£100.00 per share. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. It's of some comfort that this sale was conducted at a price well above the current share price, which is UK£71.00. So it may not shed much light on insider confidence at current levels.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 2.26k shares for UK£176k. But insiders sold 95.35k shares worth UK£9.5m. In total, Judges Scientific insiders sold more than they bought over the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

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Does Judges Scientific Boast High Insider Ownership?

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. It appears that Judges Scientific insiders own 11% of the company, worth about UK£50m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Judges Scientific Tell Us?

It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchases. However, the longer term transactions are not so encouraging. While recent transactions indicate confidence in Judges Scientific, insiders don't own enough of the company to overcome our cautiousness about the longer term transactions. So they seem pretty well aligned, overall. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Judges Scientific. In terms of investment risks, we've identified 2 warning signs with Judges Scientific and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

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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.