Insider Buyers At Motorcar Parts of America Likely Disappointed With 18% Slide

Insiders who bought US$799.9k worth of Motorcar Parts of America, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:MPAA) stock at an average buy price of US$7.31 over the last year may be disappointed by the recent 18% decrease in the stock. This is not good as insiders invest based on expectations that their money will appreciate over time. However, as a result of recent losses, their original investment is now worth only US$716.9k.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

See our latest analysis for Motorcar Parts of America

Motorcar Parts of America Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The Director Douglas Trussler made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$375k worth of shares at a price of US$7.50 each. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being US$6.55). Their view may have changed since then, but at least it shows they felt optimistic at the time. We always take careful note of the price insiders pay when purchasing shares. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock if insiders have bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$800k for 109.45k shares. On the other hand they divested 11.67k shares, for US$99k. In the last twelve months there was more buying than selling by Motorcar Parts of America insiders. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

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

Motorcar Parts of America Insiders Bought Stock Recently

We saw some Motorcar Parts of America insider buying shares in the last three months. Insiders purchased US$27k worth of shares in that period. We like it when there are only buyers, and no sellers. But in this case the amount purchased means the recent transaction may not be very meaningful on its own.

Insider Ownership

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. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. From our data, it seems that Motorcar Parts of America insiders own 5.6% of the company, worth about US$7.6m. Whilst better than nothing, we're not overly impressed by these holdings.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Motorcar Parts of America Tell Us?

Insider purchases may have been minimal, in the last three months, but there was no selling at all. Overall the buying isn't worth writing home about. 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 Motorcar Parts of America stock. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Motorcar Parts of America. For example - Motorcar Parts of America has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.

Of course Motorcar Parts of America 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.