Hawthorn Bancshares Insiders Land Bargain With Gains Of US$558k

Insiders who purchased Hawthorn Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWBK) shares in the past 12 months are unlikely to be deeply impacted by the stock's 10% decline over the past week. Reason being, despite the recent loss, insiders original purchase value of US$1.30m is now worth US$1.86m.

While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

See our latest analysis for Hawthorn Bancshares

Hawthorn Bancshares Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The Independent Non-Executive Director Douglas Eden made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$294k worth of shares at a price of US$19.63 each. Even though the purchase was made at a significantly lower price than the recent price (US$28.50), we still think insider buying is a positive. 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.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 65.18k shares for US$1.3m. On the other hand they divested 3.00k shares, for US$96k. Overall, Hawthorn Bancshares insiders were net buyers during the last year. 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!

Hawthorn Bancshares 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.

Insiders At Hawthorn Bancshares Have Sold Stock Recently

The last three months saw significant insider selling at Hawthorn Bancshares. In total, Independent Director Frank Burkhead dumped US$96k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. Overall this makes us a bit cautious, but it's not the be all and end all.

Insider Ownership

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. It appears that Hawthorn Bancshares insiders own 16% of the company, worth about US$33m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

So What Do The Hawthorn Bancshares Insider Transactions Indicate?

An insider sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. In contrast, they appear keener if you look at the last twelve months. We like that insiders own a fair amount of the company. So we're not overly bothered by recent selling. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Hawthorn Bancshares. When we did our research, we found 3 warning signs for Hawthorn Bancshares (1 is concerning!) that we believe deserve your full attention.

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 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.