Berkshire Hills Bancorp Insiders Added US$817.2k Of Stock To Their Holdings

It is usually uneventful when a single insider buys stock. However, When quite a few insiders buy shares, as it happened in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc.'s (NYSE:BHLB) case, it's fantastic news for shareholders.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

View our latest analysis for Berkshire Hills Bancorp

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when insider Mary Callahan bought US$357k worth of shares at a price of US$19.90 per share. We do like to see buying, but this purchase was made at well below the current price of US$22.50. While it does suggest insiders consider the stock undervalued at lower prices, this transaction doesn't tell us much about what they think of current prices.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 39.89k shares worth US$817k. But they sold 12.74k shares for US$283k. Overall, Berkshire Hills Bancorp insiders were net buyers during the last year. 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 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).

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Insiders Are Selling The Stock

The last quarter saw substantial insider selling of Berkshire Hills Bancorp shares. Specifically, insiders ditched US$283k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. This may suggest that some insiders think that the shares are not cheap.

Does Berkshire Hills Bancorp Boast High 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. Berkshire Hills Bancorp insiders own about US$15m worth of shares. That equates to 1.5% of the company. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

So What Do The Berkshire Hills Bancorp Insider Transactions Indicate?

Insiders sold Berkshire Hills Bancorp shares recently, but they didn't buy any. On the other hand, the insider transactions over the last year are encouraging. And insiders do own shares. So we're happy enough to look past some selling. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Berkshire Hills Bancorp. While conducting our analysis, we found that Berkshire Hills Bancorp has 2 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore them.

But note: Berkshire Hills Bancorp may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE 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.