Featured below are companies that have experienced recent insider trading activity in the public market through their direct and indirect ownerships, including accounts they have control or direction over.
The list features insider transaction activity; it does not convey total ownership information as an insider may hold numerous accounts.
Keep in mind, when looking at transaction activities by insiders, purchasing activity may reflect perceived value in a security. Selling activity may or may not be related to a stock’s valuation; perhaps an insider needs to raise money for personal reasons. An insider’s total holdings should be considered because a sale may, in context, be insignificant if this person has a large remaining position in the company. I tend to put great weight on insider transaction activity when I see multiple insiders trading a company’s shares or units.
Listed below are two securities that have had buying activity in the public market reported by insiders.
CI Financial Corp. (CIX-T)
On April 14, chair of the board of directors Bill Holland bought 50,000 shares at a price per share of $18.3646 for an account in which he has indirect ownership (WH Corp.), increasing this particular account’s position to 1,375,000 shares. The cost of this purchase exceeded $918,000.
Mr. Holland is CI’s former chief executive officer.
The company pays its shareholders a quarterly dividend of 18 cents per share or 72 cents per share yearly, equating to a current annualized yield of approximately 3.9 per cent.
Prime Mining Corp. (PRYM-X)
On April 12, Pierre Lassonde, with an ownership position exceeding 10 per cent, invested over $2.7-million in shares of Prime. He purchased 750,000 shares at a cost per share of $3.65 for an account in which he has indirect ownership (Firelight Holdings LLC), increasing this specific account’s holdings to 11,420,978 shares.
Mr. Lassonde is the co-founder and former co-chief executive officer of the original Franco-Nevada. He currently serves on Enghouse Systems Ltd.’s board of directors.
Management and board members own roughly 15 per cent of the shares outstanding, aligning their interests with shareholders’ interests.
According to Refinitiv, Prime has a unanimous buy recommendation from four analysts. The firms providing research coverage on this stock are as follows in alphabetical order: Desjardins Securities, Stifel Canada, TD Securities and VSA Capital.
The average target price is $7, implying the share price has approximately 94 per cent upside potential. Individual target prices are: $5 (low on the Street from Stephen Soock at Stifel), two at $7, and $9 (high on the Street from Oliver O’Donnell at VSA Capital).
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Listed below are two stocks that have had recent selling activity in the public market reported by insiders.
Ensign Energy Services Inc. (ESI-T)
On April 13, director Cary Moomjian divested 142,000 shares at a price per share of US $3.5207, after which this particular account held 348,762 shares. Proceeds from the sale totaled nearly US $500,000, not including trading fees.
Victoria Gold Corp. (VGCX-T)
On April 12 and 13, director Mikel McInnis sold a total of 26,000 shares at an average price per share of approximately $14.52, leaving 129,466 shares in this particular account. Proceeds from the sales totaled over $377,000, excluding commission charges.
Editor’s note: The value of Bill Holland’s purchase of CI Financial shares has been corrected in the online version of this story.
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Jennifer Dowty