Potential SmartFinancial, Inc. (NYSE:SMBK) shareholders may wish to note that the Independent Director, Cathy Ackermann, recently bought US$126k worth of stock, paying US$42.12 for each share. That's a very solid buy in our book, and increased their holding by a noteworthy 10%.

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At SmartFinancial

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the Independent Director, Steven Tucker, for US$404k worth of shares, at about US$38.01 per share. That means that an insider was selling shares at slightly below the current price (US$42.27). As a general rule we consider it to be discouraging when insiders are selling below the current price, because it suggests they were happy with a lower valuation. Please do note, however, that sellers may have a variety of reasons for selling, so we don't know for sure what they think of the stock price. This single sale was just 18% of Steven Tucker's stake.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 4.38k shares for US$184k. But insiders sold 11.38k shares worth US$434k. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of SmartFinancial shares, than buying. 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 the date!

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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. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. It appears that SmartFinancial insiders own 11% of the company, worth about US$81m. 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 SmartFinancial Insider Transactions Indicate?

It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchases. On the other hand the transaction history, over the last year, isn't so positive. We don't take much heart from transactions by SmartFinancial insiders over the last year. But they own a reasonable amount of the company, and there was some buying recently. Overall they seem reasonably aligned. If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

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.

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 has no position in any stocks mentioned.