Should You Take Comfort From Insider Transactions At VSE Corporation (NASDAQ:VSEC)?

It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of examples of share prices declining precipitously after insiders have sold shares. So before you buy or sell VSE Corporation (NASDAQ:VSEC), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.

What Is Insider Selling?

Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock in the company. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market.

Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. For example, a Harvard University study found that 'insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year'.

See our latest analysis for VSE

VSE Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when CEO, President & Director John Cuomo bought US$51k worth of shares at a price of US$14.70 per share. Even though the purchase was made at a significantly lower price than the recent price (US$43.82), 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.

VSE insiders may have bought shares in the last year, but they didn't sell any. They paid about US$17.64 on average. It is certainly positive to see that insiders have invested their own money in the company. However, you should keep in mind that they bought when the share price was meaningfully below today's levels. 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.

Insider Ownership of VSE

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It's great to see that VSE insiders own 18% of the company, worth about US$101m. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.

So What Do The VSE Insider Transactions Indicate?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded VSE shares in the last quarter. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. Judging from their transactions, and high insider ownership, VSE insiders feel good about the company's future. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. To help with this, we've discovered 2 warning signs (1 is a bit concerning!) that you ought to be aware of before buying any shares in VSE.

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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