Insiders who purchased Vera Bradley, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRA) shares in the past 12 months are unlikely to be deeply impacted by the stock's 11% decline over the past week. After taking the recent loss into consideration, the US$1.27m worth of stock they bought is now worth US$1.99m, indicating that their investment yielded a positive return.
Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.
Vera Bradley Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Lead Independent Director Andrew Meslow bought US$590k worth of shares at a price of US$1.98 per share. Even though the purchase was made at a significantly lower price than the recent price (US$3.02), we still think insider buying is a positive. While it does suggest insiders consider the stock undervalued at lower prices, this transaction doesn't tell us much about what they think of current prices.
While Vera Bradley insiders bought shares during the last year, they didn't sell. 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!
See our latest analysis for Vera Bradley
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 Of Vera Bradley
For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It appears that Vera Bradley insiders own 30% of the company, worth about US$27m. 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 Does This Data Suggest About Vera Bradley Insiders?
It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Vera Bradley shares in the last quarter. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. Overall we don't see anything to make us think Vera Bradley insiders are doubting the company, and they do own shares. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. At Simply Wall St, we've found that Vera Bradley has 4 warning signs (2 shouldn't be ignored!) that deserve your attention before going any further with your analysis.
But note: Vera Bradley may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE 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.
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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.