Trade Alert: The President Of Arlington Asset Investment Corp. (NYSE:AAIC), J. Tonkel, Has Just Spent US$94k Buying 3.7% More Shares

Whilst it may not be a huge deal, we thought it was good to see that the Arlington Asset Investment Corp. (NYSE:AAIC) President, J. Tonkel, recently bought US$94k worth of stock, for US$3.12 per share. Although the purchase is not a big one, increasing their shareholding by only 3.7%, it can be interpreted as a good sign.

Check out our latest analysis for Arlington Asset Investment

Arlington Asset Investment Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent purchase by J. Tonkel was the biggest purchase of Arlington Asset Investment shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. That means that even when the share price was higher than US$3.03 (the recent price), an insider wanted to purchase shares. It's very possible they regret the purchase, but it's more likely they are bullish about the company. To us, it's very important to consider the price insiders pay for shares. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock when an insider has bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price. The only individual insider to buy over the last year was J. Tonkel.

J. Tonkel purchased 105.00k shares over the year. The average price per share was US$3.48. 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 always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. So if that suits your style you could check each stock one by one or you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Insider Ownership of Arlington Asset Investment

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. From looking at our data, insiders own US$3.5m worth of Arlington Asset Investment stock, about 3.9% of the company. We prefer to see high levels of insider ownership.

So What Do The Arlington Asset Investment Insider Transactions Indicate?

It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchase. 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 Arlington Asset Investment stock. While we like knowing what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. At Simply Wall St, we found 2 warning signs for Arlington Asset Investment that deserve your attention before buying any shares.

But note: Arlington Asset Investment may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.

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.