Insider Buying: The John Menzies plc (LON:MNZS) CFO & Executive Director Just Bought 50% More Shares

Investors who take an interest in John Menzies plc (LON:MNZS) should definitely note that the CFO & Executive Director, Alvaro Gomez-Reino, recently paid UK£2.99 per share to buy UK£120k worth of the stock. That's a very decent purchase to our minds and it grew their holding by a solid 50%.

View our latest analysis for John Menzies

John Menzies Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent purchase by Alvaro Gomez-Reino was the biggest purchase of John Menzies 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£3.22. That means they have been optimistic about the company in the past, though they may have changed their mind. 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. In this case we're pleased to report that the insider bought shares at close to current prices. Alvaro Gomez-Reino was the only individual insider to buy during the last year.

Alvaro Gomez-Reino bought a total of 90.00k shares over the year at an average price of UK£2.23. 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 of John Menzies

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. From our data, it seems that John Menzies insiders own 1.8% of the company, worth about UK£4.9m. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. We do generally prefer see higher levels of insider ownership.

What Might The Insider Transactions At John Menzies Tell Us?

It is good to see the recent insider purchase. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. However, we note that the company didn't make a profit over the last twelve months, which makes us cautious. On this analysis the only slight negative we see is the fairly low (overall) insider ownership; their transactions suggest that they are quite positive on John Menzies stock. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for John Menzies (1 is a bit unpleasant) you should be aware of.

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. 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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