Bullish Churchill Downs Insiders Loaded Up On US$1.30m Of Stock

Quite a few insiders have dramatically grown their holdings in Churchill Downs Incorporated (NASDAQ:CHDN) over the past 12 months. An insider's optimism about the company's prospects is a positive sign.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

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Churchill Downs Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by Independent Director Douglas Grissom for US$928k worth of shares, at about US$92.77 per share. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at around the current price of US$102. While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. We do always like to see insider buying, but it is worth noting if those purchases were made at well below today's share price, as the discount to value may have narrowed with the rising price. The good news for Churchill Downs share holders is that insiders were buying at near the current price.

While Churchill Downs 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 Churchill Downs

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

Insider Ownership Of Churchill Downs

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. Churchill Downs insiders own 4.0% of the company, currently worth about US$285m based on the recent share price. Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Churchill Downs Insiders?

There haven't been any insider transactions in the last three months -- that doesn't mean much. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. With high insider ownership and encouraging transactions, it seems like Churchill Downs insiders think the business has merit. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Churchill Downs. While conducting our analysis, we found that Churchill Downs has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore this.

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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.