Over the last year, a good number of insiders have significantly increased their holdings in Lavras Gold Corp. (CVE:LGC). This is encouraging because it indicates that insiders are more optimistic about the company's prospects.

While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

Check out our latest analysis for Lavras Gold

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Lavras Gold

The insider Eric Sprott made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for CA$1.7m worth of shares at a price of CA$1.35 each. Even though the purchase was made at a significantly lower price than the recent price (CA$2.55), we still think insider buying is a positive. Because the shares were purchased at a lower price, this particular buy doesn't tell us much about how insiders feel about the current share price.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 6.08m shares for CA$9.1m. But insiders sold 863.90k shares worth CA$1.7m. Overall, Lavras Gold insiders were net buyers during the last year. Their average price was about CA$1.50. To my mind it is good that insiders have invested their own money in the company. But we must note that the investments were made at well below today's share price. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

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

Lavras Gold Insiders Bought Stock Recently

Over the last three months, we've seen significantly more insider buying, than insider selling, at Lavras Gold. In fact, three insiders bought CA$2.9m worth of shares. But we did see insider Eric Sprott sell shares worth CA$1.7m. The buying outweighs the selling, which suggests that insiders may believe the company will do well in the future.

Insider Ownership Of Lavras Gold

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It appears that Lavras Gold insiders own 32% of the company, worth about CA$44m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.