Great news for Gaia, Inc. (NASDAQ:GAIA): Insiders acquired stock in large numbers last year

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

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

Check out our latest analysis for Gaia

Gaia Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The Independent Director David Maisel made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$275k worth of shares at a price of US$11.00 each. That means that even when the share price was higher than US$6.49 (the recent price), an insider wanted to purchase shares. Their view may have changed since then, but at least it shows they felt optimistic at the time. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock if insiders have bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price.

In the last twelve months Gaia insiders were buying shares, but not selling. 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!

Gaia is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying.

Insider Ownership

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. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Gaia insiders own about US$45m worth of shares. That equates to 36% 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.

So What Do The Gaia Insider Transactions Indicate?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Gaia shares in the last quarter. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. Insiders do have a stake in Gaia and their transactions don't cause us concern. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. You'd be interested to know, that we found 1 warning sign for Gaia and we suggest you have a look.

Of course Gaia 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, but not derivative transactions.

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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.