Whilst it may not be a huge deal, we thought it was good to see that the HireQuest, Inc. (NASDAQ:HQI) Independent Director, Jack Olmstead, recently bought US$65k worth of stock, for US$12.90 per share. Although the purchase is not a big one, increasing their shareholding by only 8.1%, it can be interpreted as a good sign.

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At HireQuest

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by Chairman Richard Hermanns for US$121k worth of shares, at about US$12.07 per share. We do like to see buying, but this purchase was made at well below the current price of US$13.60. 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.

While HireQuest insiders bought shares during the last year, they didn't sell. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. 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.

Does HireQuest Boast High Insider Ownership?

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. HireQuest insiders own about US$79m worth of shares (which is 44% of the company). Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.

So What Do The HireQuest Insider Transactions Indicate?

It is good to see recent purchasing. And an analysis of the transactions over the last year also gives us confidence. Once you factor in the high insider ownership, it certainly seems like insiders are positive about HireQuest. That's what I like to see! In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing HireQuest. While conducting our analysis, we found that HireQuest has 3 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore these.

Of course HireQuest 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.