Potential Journey Medical Corporation (NASDAQ:DERM) shareholders may wish to note that the Independent Director, Justin Smith, recently bought US$104k worth of stock, paying US$3.47 for each share. That's a very solid buy in our book, and increased their holding by a noteworthy 45%.

Journey Medical Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The Executive Chairman Lindsay Rosenwald made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$223k worth of shares at a price of US$2.23 each. We do like to see buying, but this purchase was made at well below the current price of US$3.69. Because the shares were purchased at a lower price, this particular buy doesn't tell us much about how insiders feel about the current share price.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$728k for 264.04k shares. But they sold 75.91k shares for US$128k. In the last twelve months there was more buying than selling by Journey Medical insiders. The average buy price was around US$2.76. We don't deny that it is nice to see insiders buying stock in the company. However, you should keep in mind that they bought when the share price was meaningfully below today's levels. 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!

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

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. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Our data indicates that Journey Medical insiders own about US$6.5m worth of shares (which is 12% of the company). We do generally prefer see higher levels of insider ownership.

So What Do The Journey Medical Insider Transactions Indicate?

It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchases. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. But on the other hand, the company made a loss during the last year, which makes us a little cautious. We would certainly prefer see higher levels of insider ownership but analysis of the insider transactions suggests that Journey Medical insiders are expecting a bright future. 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. To assist with this, we've discovered 4 warning signs that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of Journey Medical.

Of course Journey Medical 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.