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Insider Buying: The Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS) Independent Chairman of the Board Just Bought US$87k Worth Of Shares

Whilst it may not be a huge deal, we thought it was good to see that the Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS) Independent Chairman of the Board, William Aubrey, recently bought US$87k worth of stock, for US$47.20 per share. However, we do note that it only increased their holding by 5.5%, and it wasn't a huge purchase by absolute value, either.

View our latest analysis for Peoples Financial Services

Peoples Financial Services Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Executive VP, Debra Adams, sold US$103k worth of shares at a price of US$49.00 per share. That means that an insider was selling shares at around the current price of US$45.30. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. In this case, the big sale took place at around the current price, so it's not too bad (but it's still not a positive).

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$173k for 3.70k shares. But insiders sold 3200 shares worth US$156k. In total, Peoples Financial Services insiders bought more than they sold over the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

NasdaqGS:PFIS Recent Insider Trading, February 28th 2020
NasdaqGS:PFIS Recent Insider Trading, February 28th 2020

Peoples Financial Services is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider 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. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Insiders own 7.8% of Peoples Financial Services shares, worth about US$27m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

So What Do The Peoples Financial Services Insider Transactions Indicate?

The recent insider purchases are heartening. And an analysis of the transactions over the last year also gives us confidence. When combined with notable insider ownership, these factors suggest Peoples Financial Services insiders are well aligned, and that they may think the share price is too low. I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

But note: Peoples Financial Services 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, but not derivative transactions.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.

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