With Morrow Bank Up 10%, Insider Buyers Count Their Returns

Morrow Bank ASA (OB:MOBA) insiders who bought shares over the past year were rewarded handsomely last week. The stock rose 10%, resulting in a kr243m rise in the company's market capitalisation, translating to a gain of 99% on their initial investment. As a result, their original purchase of kr1.86m worth of stock is now worth kr3.71m.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

We check all companies for important risks. See what we found for Morrow Bank in our free report.

Morrow Bank Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The Chief Financial Officer Eirik Holtedahl made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for kr840k worth of shares at a price of kr5.60 each. Although we like to see insider buying, we note that this large purchase was at significantly below the recent price of kr11.40. Because the shares were purchased at a lower price, this particular buy doesn't tell us much about how insiders feel about the current share price.

While Morrow Bank insiders bought shares during the last year, they didn't sell. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

View our latest analysis for Morrow Bank

Morrow Bank is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find small cap companies at attractive valuations, this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Insider Ownership

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Insiders own 4.4% of Morrow Bank shares, worth about kr115m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

So What Do The Morrow Bank Insider Transactions Indicate?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Morrow Bank shares in the last quarter. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. It would be great to see more insider buying, but overall it seems like Morrow Bank insiders are reasonably well aligned (owning significant chunk of the company's shares) and optimistic for the future. If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future.

Of course Morrow Bank may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality 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.