Even if it's not a huge purchase, we think it was good to see that Nicholas Dove, the President of Industrial Assets Division of Heritage Global Inc. (NASDAQ:HGBL) recently shelled out US$66k to buy stock, at US$1.10 per share. While we're hesitant to get too excited about a purchase of that size, we do note it increased their holding by a solid 48%.

Heritage Global Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent purchase by Nicholas Dove was the biggest purchase of Heritage Global shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, at around the current price, which is US$1.20. While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. We do always like to see insider buying, but it is worth noting if those purchases were made at well below today's share price, as the discount to value may have narrowed with the rising price. Happily, the Heritage Global insiders decided to buy shares at close to current prices.

In the last twelve months Heritage Global 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 the date!

There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of undervalued small cap companies that insiders are buying.

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 usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Insiders own 14% of Heritage Global shares, worth about US$5.9m, according to our data. Overall, this level of ownership isn't that impressive, but it's certainly better than nothing!

So What Do The Heritage Global Insider Transactions Indicate?

The recent insider purchases are heartening. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. But we don't feel the same about the fact the company is making losses. We would certainly prefer see higher levels of insider ownership but analysis of the insider transactions suggests that Heritage Global insiders are expecting 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. For example - Heritage Global has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.

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.