Investors who take an interest in Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE:AEM) should definitely note that the CEO, President & Director, Ammar Al-Joundi, recently paid US$154 per share to buy US$185k worth of the stock. While that's a very decent purchase to our minds, it was proportionally a bit modest, boosting their holding by just 2.5%.

Agnico Eagle Mines Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent purchase by CEO, President & Director Ammar Al-Joundi was not their only trade of Agnico Eagle Mines shares this year. They previously made a sale of -US$8.0m worth of shares at a price of US$178 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 silver lining is that this sell-down took place above the latest price (US$155). So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 4.20k shares for US$691k. But they sold 222.25k shares for US$37m. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Agnico Eagle Mines shares, than buying. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

If you like to buy stocks that insiders are buying, rather than selling, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: Most of them are flying under the radar).

Does Agnico Eagle Mines Boast High 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. Agnico Eagle Mines insiders own about US$61m worth of shares. That equates to 0.08% of the company. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

So What Do The Agnico Eagle Mines Insider Transactions Indicate?

The recent insider purchase is heartening. On the other hand the transaction history, over the last year, isn't so positive. The more recent transactions are a positive, but Agnico Eagle Mines insiders haven't shown the sustained enthusiasm that we look for, although they do own a decent number of shares, overall. In short they are likely aligned with shareholders. Therefore, you should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Agnico Eagle Mines.

Of course Agnico Eagle Mines 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 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.