Despite recent gains, Civitas Social Housing PLC (LON:CSH) insiders are still down UK£20k after purchasing last year

Some of the losses seen by insiders who purchased UK£89k worth of Civitas Social Housing PLC (LON:CSH) shares over the past year were recovered after the stock increased by 13% over the past week. However, the purchase is proving to be a costly gamble, since losses made by insiders have totalled UK£20k since the time of purchase.

While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

Check out our latest analysis for Civitas Social Housing

Civitas Social Housing Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The Independent Non-Executive Chairman Michael Wrobel made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for UK£60k worth of shares at a price of UK£0.75 each. That means that even when the share price was higher than UK£0.61 (the recent price), an insider wanted to purchase shares. While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. It is generally more encouraging if they paid above the current price, as it suggests they saw value, even at higher levels.

While Civitas Social Housing 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. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

Civitas Social Housing is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

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. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. From what we can see in our data, insiders own only about UK£214k worth of Civitas Social Housing shares. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. It's always possible we are missing something but from our data, it looks like insider ownership is minimal.

So What Do The Civitas Social Housing Insider Transactions Indicate?

The fact that there have been no Civitas Social Housing insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. 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 Civitas Social Housing stock. 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. Our analysis shows 4 warning signs for Civitas Social Housing (2 can't be ignored!) and we strongly recommend you look at them before investing.

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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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.