With Greencore Group Up 17%, Insider Buyers Count Their Returns

Last week, Greencore Group plc (LON:GNC) insiders, who had purchased shares in the previous 12 months were rewarded handsomely. The shares increased by 17% last week, resulting in a UK£59m increase in the company's market worth, implying a 29% gain on their initial purchase. Put another way, the original UK£126.7k acquisition is now worth UK£163.8k.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.

Check out our latest analysis for Greencore Group

Greencore Group Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by CEO & Executive Director Dalton Philips for UK£127k worth of shares, at about UK£0.65 per share. We do like to see buying, but this purchase was made at well below the current price of UK£0.84. Because it occurred at a lower valuation, it doesn't tell us much about whether insiders might find today's price attractive.

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!

There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. So if that suits your style you could check each stock one by one or you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Insider Ownership

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Based on our data, Greencore Group insiders have about 0.8% of the stock, worth approximately UK£3.3m. We consider this fairly low insider ownership.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Greencore Group Insiders?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Greencore Group shares in the last quarter. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. While we have no worries about the insider transactions, we'd be more comfortable if they owned more Greencore Group stock. 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 Greencore Group has 3 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore these.

But note: Greencore Group 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 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.