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

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

View our latest analysis for Quantum-Si

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Quantum-Si

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by Independent Chairman Charles Kummeth for US$148k worth of shares, at about US$0.89 per share. Even though the purchase was made at a significantly lower price than the recent price (US$1.92), we still think insider buying is a positive. Because it occurred at a lower valuation, it doesn't tell us much about whether insiders might find today's price attractive.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$377k for 355.00k shares. But they sold 16.14k shares for US$19k. Overall, Quantum-Si insiders were net buyers during the last year. They paid about US$1.06 on average. We don't deny that it is nice to see insiders buying stock in the company. However, we do note that they were buying at significantly lower prices than today's share price. 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!

Quantum-Si is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find small cap companies at attractive valuations, this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Have Quantum-Si Insiders Traded Recently?

The last three months saw some Quantum-Si insider selling. Chief Product Officer John Vieceli only netted US$5.6k selling shares, in that period. Neither the lack of buying nor the presence of selling is heartening. But the volume sold is so low that it really doesn't bother us.

Does Quantum-Si Boast High Insider Ownership?

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It appears that Quantum-Si insiders own 19% of the company, worth about US$70m. 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 Quantum-Si Insider Transactions Indicate?

While there has not been any insider buying in the last three months, there has been selling. But given the selling was modest, we're not worried. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. Insiders own shares in Quantum-Si and we see no evidence to suggest they are worried about the future. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. For example, Quantum-Si has 4 warning signs (and 1 which is significant) we think you should know about.

Of course Quantum-Si 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.