Green Dot Corporation (NYSE:GDOT) insiders who bought shares over the past year were rewarded handsomely last week. The stock rose 13%, resulting in a US$67m rise in the company's market capitalisation, translating to a gain of 11% on their initial investment. Put another way, the original US$299.1k acquisition is now worth US$331.7k.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.

Green Dot Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Chief Revenue Officer Chris Ruppel bought US$299k worth of shares at a price of US$9.16 per share. That implies that an insider found the current price of US$10.05 per share to be enticing. Of course they may have changed their mind. But this suggests they are optimistic. If someone buys shares at well below current prices, it's a good sign on balance, but keep in mind they may no longer see value. In this case we're pleased to report that the insider bought shares at close to current prices. Chris Ruppel was the only individual insider to buy shares in the last twelve months.

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.

Insider Ownership Of Green Dot

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. From our data, it seems that Green Dot insiders own 1.2% of the company, worth about US$6.4m. We do generally prefer see higher levels of insider ownership.

So What Do The Green Dot Insider Transactions Indicate?

The fact that there have been no Green Dot insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. While we have no worries about the insider transactions, we'd be more comfortable if they owned more Green Dot stock. While it's good to be aware of what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. While conducting our analysis, we found that Green Dot has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore it.

Of course Green Dot may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality 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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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.