Investors who take an interest in Victoria PLC (LON:VCP) should definitely note that the Non-Executive Director, Gavin Petken, recently paid UK£0.69 per share to buy UK£176k worth of the stock. This significant purchase has us anticipating the best for the company, especially since it represents a substantial increase in his own holding.
The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Victoria
Notably, Gavin Petken’s recent purchase is the biggest insider purchase of Victoria shares that we’ve seen in the last year. While we like to see insider buying, we note that this large purchase was at significantly below the recent price of UK£0.85. As a result, this particular buy doesn’t tell us much about how insiders feel about the current share price.
In the last twelve months, Victoria insiders were buying shares, but not selling. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and date.
[Chart: AIM:VCP Insider Trading Volume January 4th 2025]
Victoria is Not Alone
Victoria is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find small-cap companies at attractive valuations, this list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing could be just the ticket.
Does Victoria Boast High 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. We reckon it’s a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Victoria insiders own about UK£25m worth of shares, which equates to 26% of the company. While this is not the highest level of insider ownership we’ve seen elsewhere, these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and other shareholders.
What Does This Data Suggest About Victoria Insiders?
It’s certainly positive to see the recent insider purchases. We also take confidence from the longer-term picture of insider transactions. However, we note that the company didn’t make a profit over the last twelve months, which makes us cautious. When combined with notable insider ownership, these factors suggest Victoria insiders are well aligned, and that they may think the share price is too low.
While it’s good to be aware of what’s going on with the insider’s ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. While conducting our analysis, we found that Victoria has 2 warning signs, and it would be unwise to ignore these.
Story Continues
However, note that Victoria may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.
What Is Insider Ownership?
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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Disclaimer
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. 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’s Position
Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
