CEO & Director Arthur Johnson Just Bought 6.6% More Shares In Hunting PLC (LON:HTG)

Even if it's not a huge purchase, we think it was good to see that Arthur Johnson, the CEO & Director of Hunting PLC (LON:HTG) recently shelled out UK£65k to buy stock, at UK£2.69 per share. Although the purchase is not a big one, increasing their shareholding by only 6.6%, it can be interpreted as a good sign.

Check out our latest analysis for Hunting

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Hunting

In fact, the recent purchase by Arthur Johnson was the biggest purchase of Hunting shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, at around the current price, which is UK£2.72. Of course they may have changed their mind. But this suggests they are optimistic. We do always like to see insider buying, but it is worth noting if those purchases were made at well below today's share price, as the discount to value may have narrowed with the rising price. In this case we're pleased to report that the insider purchases were made at close to current prices.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 131.79k shares worth UK£236k. But they sold 18.00k shares for UK£39k. In the last twelve months there was more buying than selling by Hunting insiders. Their average price was about UK£1.79. We don't deny that it is nice to see insiders buying stock in the company. However, you should keep in mind that they bought when the share price was meaningfully below today's levels. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

Hunting is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying.

Insider Ownership of Hunting

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. Insiders own 5.2% of Hunting shares, worth about UK£23m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

So What Do The Hunting Insider Transactions Indicate?

It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchases. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. But we don't feel the same about the fact the company is making losses. Insiders likely see value in Hunting shares, given these transactions (along with notable insider ownership of the company). 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. You'd be interested to know, that we found 2 warning signs for Hunting and we suggest you have a look.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity 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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