Bullish Burford Capital Insiders Loaded Up On US$25m Of Stock \

In the last year, multiple insiders have substantially increased their holdings of Burford Capital Limited (LON:BUR) stock, indicating that insiders' optimism about the company's prospects has increased.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

See our latest analysis for Burford Capital

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Burford Capital

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Chief Investment Officer Jonathan Molot bought UK£25m worth of shares at a price of UK£8.72 per share. We do like to see buying, but this purchase was made at well below the current price of UK£10.79. 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.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 2.90m shares worth UK£25m. But insiders sold 2.88m shares worth UK£25m. In the last twelve months there was more buying than selling by Burford Capital insiders. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Insider Ownership Of Burford Capital

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. Burford Capital insiders own about UK£244m worth of shares (which is 10% 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.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Burford Capital Tell Us?

The fact that there have been no Burford Capital insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. It would be great to see more insider buying, but overall it seems like Burford Capital insiders are reasonably well aligned (owning significant chunk of the company's shares) and optimistic for the future. While we like knowing what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. To assist with this, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of Burford Capital.

But note: Burford Capital 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, but not derivative transactions.

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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.