Insider Buying: $U11.SI$ Independent Chairman of the Board Just Bought S$253k Worth Of Shares

Potential United Overseas Bank Limited$UNITED OVERSEAS BANK LIMITED(U11.SI)$ shareholders may wish to note that the Independent Chairman of the Board, Kan Seng Wong, recently bought S$253k worth of stock, paying S$31.63 for each share. However, it only increased shareholding by a small percentage, and it wasn't a huge purchase by absolute value, either.

United Overseas Bank Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent purchase by Kan Seng Wong is the biggest insider purchase of United Overseas Bank shares that we've seen in the last year. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being S$31.58). Their view may have changed since then, but at least it shows they felt optimistic at the time. We always take careful note of the price insiders pay when purchasing shares. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock when an insider has bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price. Kan Seng Wong was the only individual insider to buy shares in the last twelve months.

You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below.

SGX:U11 Insider Trading Volume April 10th 2022

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

Insider Ownership

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. United Overseas Bank insiders own 16% of the company, currently worth about S$8.4b based on the recent share price. Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About United Overseas Bank Insiders?

It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchase. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. Once you factor in the high insider ownership, it certainly seems like insiders are positive about United Overseas Bank. Looks promising! In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing United Overseas Bank.