Have Insiders Been Buying Meridian Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIVO) Shares?

It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. The flip side of that is that there are more than a few examples of insiders dumping stock prior to a period of weak performance. So before you buy or sell Meridian Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIVO), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.

What Is Insider Selling?

It is perfectly legal for company insiders, including board members, to buy and sell stock in a 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. As Peter Lynch said, 'insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise'.

Check out our latest analysis for Meridian Bioscience

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Meridian Bioscience

The President John Kenny made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$174k worth of shares at a price of US$5.78 each. Although we like to see insider buying, we note that this large purchase was at significantly below the recent price of US$23.94. 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.

In the last twelve months Meridian Bioscience insiders were buying shares, but not selling. They paid about US$8.69 on average. We don't deny that it is nice to see insiders buying stock in the company. But we must note that the investments were made at well below today's share price. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

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).

Insider Ownership

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Insiders own 0.5% of Meridian Bioscience shares, worth about US$5.7m, according to our data. We do generally prefer see higher levels of insider ownership.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Meridian Bioscience Tell Us?

The fact that there have been no Meridian Bioscience insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. The transactions are fine but it'd be more encouraging if Meridian Bioscience insiders bought more shares in the company. 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. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Meridian Bioscience you should know about.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting 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, 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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