Are Insiders Buying McBride plc (LON:MCB) Stock?

We often see insiders buying up shares in companies that perform well over the long term. The flip side of that is that there are more than a few examples of insiders dumping stock prior to a period of weak performance. So before you buy or sell McBride plc (LON:MCB), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.

What Is Insider Selling?

Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock in the company. However, such insiders must disclose their trading activities, and not trade on inside information.

We don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions. But it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. For example, a Harvard University study found that 'insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year'.

View our latest analysis for McBride

McBride Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Independent Non-Executive Chairman of the Board Jeffrey Nodland bought UK£62k worth of shares at a price of UK£0.68 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, at around the current price, which is UK£0.80. Of course they may have changed their mind. But this suggests they are optimistic. While we always like to see insider buying, it's less meaningful if the purchases were made at much lower prices, as the opportunity they saw may have passed. The good news for McBride share holders is that insiders were buying at near the current price.

While McBride insiders bought shares during the last year, they didn't sell. 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!

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 of McBride

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. From what we can see in our data, insiders own only about UK£742k worth of McBride shares. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. This level of insider ownership is notably low, and not very encouraging.

So What Do The McBride Insider Transactions Indicate?

There haven't been any insider transactions in the last three months -- that doesn't mean much. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. The transactions are fine but it'd be more encouraging if McBride insiders bought more shares in the company. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing McBride. While conducting our analysis, we found that McBride has 4 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore these.

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, but not derivative transactions.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
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