It is usually uneventful when a single insider buys stock. However, When quite a few insiders buy shares, as it happened in ECN Capital Corp.'s (TSE:ECN) case, it's fantastic news for shareholders.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

See our latest analysis for ECN Capital

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At ECN Capital

The CEO & Executive Director Steven Hudson made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for CA$610k worth of shares at a price of CA$2.44 each. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being CA$2.11). 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. It is generally more encouraging if they paid above the current price, as it suggests they saw value, even at higher levels.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid CA$5.9m for 2.84m shares. But insiders sold 76.81k shares worth CA$137k. In total, ECN Capital insiders bought more than they sold over the last year. The average buy price was around CA$2.08. It's great to see insiders putting their own cash into the company's stock, albeit at below the recent share price. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and 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!

ECN Capital is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find small cap companies at attractive valuations, this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Insiders At ECN Capital Have Bought Stock Recently

There was some insider buying at ECN Capital over the last quarter. In total, insiders bought CA$191k worth of shares in that time. But Independent Director Paul Stoyan sold CA$137k worth. It is good to see that insiders have been buying, but they did not buy very many shares, in the scheme of things.

Insider Ownership

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. ECN Capital insiders own about CA$42m worth of shares. That equates to 6.9% of the company. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.