Harvard Bioscience Slides As Insider Purchases Lose Another US$76k

Insiders who bought US$90.5k worth of Harvard Bioscience, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:HBIO) stock at an average buy price of US$3.02 over the last year may be disappointed by the recent 21% decrease in the stock. This is not good as insiders invest based on expectations that their money will appreciate over time. However, as a result of recent losses, their original investment is now worth only US$14.2k.

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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Harvard Bioscience Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when President James Green bought US$61k worth of shares at a price of US$3.07 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being US$0.47). It's very possible they regret the purchase, but it's more likely they are bullish about the company. We always take careful note of the price insiders pay when purchasing shares. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock when an insider has bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price. The only individual insider to buy over the last year was James Green.

James Green bought 30.00k shares over the last 12 months at an average price of US$3.02. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

View our latest analysis for Harvard Bioscience

There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. If investing in lesser known companies is your style, you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Insider Ownership

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. From our data, it seems that Harvard Bioscience insiders own 7.6% of the company, worth about US$2.0m. Overall, this level of ownership isn't that impressive, but it's certainly better than nothing!

So What Does This Data Suggest About Harvard Bioscience Insiders?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Harvard Bioscience shares in the last quarter. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. We'd like to see bigger individual holdings. However, we don't see anything to make us think Harvard Bioscience insiders are doubting 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. To assist with this, we've discovered 3 warning signs that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of Harvard Bioscience.

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 of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

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