It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. On the other hand, we’d be remiss not to mention that insider sales have been known to precede tough periods for a business. So we’ll take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Q & M Dental Group (Singapore) Limited (SGX:QC7).

What Is Insider Buying?

Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock on the market. However, such insiders must disclose their trading activities, and not trade on inside information.

We don’t think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions. But equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. For example, a Harvard University study found that ‘insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year.’

Check out our latest analysis for Q & M Dental Group (Singapore)

Q & M Dental Group (Singapore) Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by Founder Chin-Siau Ng for S$100k worth of shares, at about S$0.50 per share. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at around the current price. Of course they may have changed their mind. But this suggests they are optimistic. We generally consider it a positive if insiders have been buying on market, even if the share price has increased a bit since then.

In the last twelve months insiders paid S$114k for 230.00k shares purchased. Overall, Q & M Dental Group (Singapore) insiders were net buyers last year. The average buy price was around S$0.49. These transactions show that insiders have confidence to invest their own money in the stock, albeit at slightly below the recent price of S$0.51. You can see the insider transactions over the last year depicted in the chart below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Does Q & M Dental Group (Singapore) 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. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Q & M Dental Group (Singapore) insiders own 15% of the company, currently worth about S$60m based on the recent share price. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Q & M Dental Group (Singapore) Insiders?

There haven’t been any insider transactions in the last three months — that doesn’t mean much. 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 Q & M Dental Group (Singapore) insiders are doubting the company, and they do own shares. Of course, the future is what matters most. So if you are interested in Q & M Dental Group (Singapore), you should check out this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

But note: Q & M Dental Group (Singapore) 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.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.