How Much Are Santam Ltd (JSE:SNT) Insiders Spending On Buying Shares?

We've lost count of how many times insiders have accumulated shares in a company that goes on to improve markedly. 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 Santam Ltd (JSE:SNT).

Do Insider Transactions Matter?

It's quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, rules govern insider transactions, and certain disclosures are required.

We don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions. But it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. For example, a Harvard University study found that 'insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year'.

Check out our latest analysis for Santam

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Santam

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Non-Executive Director Junior Ngulube bought R1.1m worth of shares at a price of R229 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, at around the current price, which is R249. Of course they may have changed their mind. But this suggests they are optimistic. While we always like to see insider buying, it's less meaningful if the purchases were made at much lower prices, as the opportunity they saw may have passed. In this case we're pleased to report that the insider bought shares at close to current prices. Junior Ngulube was the only individual insider to buy shares in the last twelve months. We note that Junior Ngulube was both the biggest buyer and the biggest seller.

You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. 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.

Insiders at Santam Have Bought Stock Recently

Over the last three months, we've seen a bit of insider buying at Santam. Non-Executive Director Junior Ngulube bought R1.1m worth of shares in that time. But Non-Executive Director Junior Ngulube sold R483k worth. It is nice to see that insiders have bought, but the quantum isn't large enough to get us excited.

Insider Ownership of Santam

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. Based on our data, Santam insiders have about 0.07% of the stock, worth approximately R19m. We prefer to see high levels of insider ownership.

So What Do The Santam Insider Transactions Indicate?

The recent insider purchase is heartening. And the longer term insider transactions also give us confidence. Given that insiders also own a fair bit of Santam we think they are probably pretty confident of a bright 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. While conducting our analysis, we found that Santam has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore this.

Of course Santam may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality 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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