It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. On the other hand, we’d be remiss not to mention that insider sales have been known to precede tough periods for a business. So we’ll take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Tredegar Corporation (NYSE:TG).
What Is Insider Buying?
It is perfectly legal for company insiders, including board members, to buy and sell stock in a company. However, such insiders must disclose their trading activities, and not trade on inside information.
Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. For example, a Colombia University study found that ‘insiders are more likely to engage in open market purchases of their own company’s stock when the firm is about to reveal new agreements with customers and suppliers’.
Check out our latest analysis for Tredegar
Tredegar Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when VP, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary Michael Schewel bought US$80k worth of shares at a price of US$15.95 per share. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at above the current price. 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. That purchase may suggest an expectation of positive returns over the long term. Michael Schewel was the only individual insider to buy over the year.
You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions 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!
Tredegar is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.
Insider Ownership of Tredegar
Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. I reckon it’s a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Tredegar insiders own about US$123m worth of shares (which is 23% of the company). I like to see this level of insider ownership, because it increases the chances that management are thinking about the best interests of shareholders.
So What Do The Tredegar Insider Transactions Indicate?
It is good to see recent insider purchase. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. But on the other hand, the company made a loss last year, which makes us a little cautious. Once you factor in the high insider ownership, it certainly seems like insiders are positive about Tredegar. Nice! Along with insider transactions, I recommend checking if Tredegar is growing revenue. This free chart of historic revenue and earnings should make that easy.
But note: Tredegar 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.
To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.
The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.