James Cropper's Market Cap Up UK£2.9m Following Year Of Insider Stock Buying

James Cropper PLC (LON:CRPR) insiders who bought shares over the past year were rewarded handsomely last week. The stock rose 10.0%, resulting in a UK£2.9m rise in the company's market capitalisation, translating to a gain of 65% on their initial investment. Put another way, the original UK£260.4k acquisition is now worth UK£430.7k.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

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James Cropper Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by Chairman of the Board Mark A. Cropper for UK£231k worth of shares, at about UK£1.98 per share. We do like to see buying, but this purchase was made at well below the current price of UK£3.30. 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 130.52k shares worth UK£260k. But they sold 5.00k shares for UK£9.9k. In the last twelve months there was more buying than selling by James Cropper insiders. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

View our latest analysis for James Cropper

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

James Cropper Insiders Bought Stock Recently

We saw some James Cropper insider buying shares in the last three months. CEO & Director David Stirling shelled out UK£11k for shares in that time. We like it when there are only buyers, and no sellers. But the amount invested in the last three months isn't enough for us too put much weight on it, as a single factor.

Insider Ownership Of James Cropper

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. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Insiders own 28% of James Cropper shares, worth about UK£8.7m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At James Cropper Tell Us?

Our data shows a little insider buying, but no selling, in the last three months. That said, the purchases were not large. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. Overall we don't see anything to make us think James Cropper insiders are doubting the company, and they do own shares. 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 James Cropper has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore this.

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 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.