Whilst it may not be a huge deal, we thought it was good to see that the CPI Card Group Inc. (NASDAQ:PMTS) Independent Chair, H. Riley, recently bought US$65k worth of stock, for US$32.51 per share. While we're hesitant to get too excited about a purchase of that size, we do note it increased their holding by a solid 18%.

CPI Card Group Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Chief Human Resources Officer, Sonya Vollmer, sold US$92k worth of shares at a price of US$25.10 per share. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$32.74, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent valuation. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. We note that the biggest single sale was 100% of Sonya Vollmer's holding. The only individual insider seller over the last year was Sonya Vollmer.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 4.59k shares for US$133k. On the other hand they divested 3.66k shares, for US$92k. Overall, CPI Card Group insiders were net buyers during the last year. Their average price was about US$29.09. It is certainly positive to see 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. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

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.

Insider Ownership Of CPI Card Group

I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It appears that CPI Card Group insiders own 2.8% of the company, worth about US$11m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

So What Do The CPI Card Group Insider Transactions Indicate?

Insider selling has just outweighed insider buying in the last three months. But the net divestment is not enough to concern us at all. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. Insiders own shares in CPI Card Group and we see no evidence to suggest they are worried about the future. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing CPI Card Group. Be aware that CPI Card Group is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those doesn't sit too well with us...

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.

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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