Those following along with Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAY) will no doubt be intrigued by the recent purchase of shares by Darin Harper, Chief Financial Officer of the company, who spent a stonking US$526k on stock at an average price of US$38.77. That purchase boosted their holding by 61%, which makes us wonder if the move was inspired by quietly confident deeply-felt optimism.

Dave & Buster's Entertainment Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The Independent Chair of the Board, Kevin Sheehan, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$4.9m worth of shares at a price of US$65.72 each. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. The silver lining is that this sell-down took place above the latest price (US$37.87). So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it.

All up, insiders sold more shares in Dave & Buster's Entertainment than they bought, over the last year. 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!

If you like to buy stocks that insiders are buying, rather than selling, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: Most of them are flying under the radar).

Insider Ownership Of Dave & Buster's Entertainment

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Dave & Buster's Entertainment insiders own about US$25m worth of shares. That equates to 1.7% of the company. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Dave & Buster's Entertainment Tell Us?

It is good to see the recent insider purchase. However, the longer term transactions are not so encouraging. The more recent transactions are a positive, but Dave & Buster's Entertainment insiders haven't shown the sustained enthusiasm that we look for, although they do own a decent number of shares, overall. So they seem pretty well aligned, overall. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. Be aware that Dave & Buster's Entertainment is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those is concerning...

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity 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 of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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