By selling US$637k worth of Usio, Inc. (NASDAQ:USIO) stock at an average sell price of US$6.33 over the last year, insiders seemed to have made the most of their holdings. After the stock price dropped 12% last week, the company's market value declined by US$4.3m, but insiders were able to mitigate their losses.
While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.
The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Usio
Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the insider, Michael Long, for US$66k worth of shares, at about US$6.05 per share. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place at a lower price. The good news is that this large sale was at well above current price of US$1.27. So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it.
Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Usio shares, than buying. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!
For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.
Insiders At Usio Have Bought Stock Recently
Over the last three months, we've seen a bit of insider buying at Usio. Senior Vice President of Corporate Development & Prepaid Products Houston Frost purchased US$37k worth of shares in that period. It's great to see that insiders are only buying, not selling. But the amount invested in the last three months isn't enough for us too put much weight on it, as a single factor.
Insider Ownership
I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with 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. Insiders own 17% of Usio shares, worth about US$5.4m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.
So What Do The Usio Insider Transactions Indicate?
Our data shows a little insider buying, but no selling, in the last three months. The net investment is not enough to encourage us much. Still, the insider transactions at Usio in the last 12 months are not very heartening. The modest level of insider ownership is, at least, some comfort. 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 3 warning signs for Usio you should know about.
Of course Usio 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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