Potential Sierra Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRRA) shareholders may wish to note that insider Craig Collard recently bought US$311k worth of stock, paying US$23.03 for each share. However, it only increased shareholding by a small percentage, and it wasn't a huge purchase by absolute value, either.

See our latest analysis for Sierra Oncology

Sierra Oncology Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent purchase by Craig Collard is the biggest insider purchase of Sierra Oncology shares that we've seen in the last year. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at above the current price of US$23.00. Their view may have changed since then, but at least it shows they felt optimistic at the time. We always take careful note of the price insiders pay when purchasing shares. It is generally more encouraging if they paid above the current price, as it suggests they saw value, even at higher levels.

Sierra Oncology insiders may have bought shares in the last year, but they didn't sell any. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

Sierra Oncology 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 isn't picking up on much insider ownership at Sierra Oncology, though insiders do hold about US$829k worth of shares. This level of insider ownership is notably low, and not very encouraging.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Sierra Oncology Tell Us?

The recent insider purchase is heartening. And the longer term insider transactions also give us confidence. But on the other hand, the company made a loss during the last year, which makes us a little cautious. On this analysis the only slight negative we see is the fairly low (overall) insider ownership; their transactions suggest that they are quite positive on Sierra Oncology stock. 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. Be aware that Sierra Oncology is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those is potentially serious...