The Independent Director of Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI), Jon Justesen, Just Bought 20{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} More Shares

Investors who take an interest in Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) should definitely note that the Independent Director, Jon Justesen, recently paid US$92.85 per share to buy US$464k worth of the stock. That’s a very solid buy in our book, and increased their holding by a noteworthy 20{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}.

View our latest analysis for Barrett Business Services

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Barrett Business Services

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Executive VP & COO, Gerald Blotz, sold US$626k worth of shares at a price of US$84.49 per share. So it’s clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even below the current price of US$94.34. When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent valuation. While insider selling is not a positive sign, we can’t be sure if it does mean insiders think the shares are fully valued, so it’s only a weak sign. We note that the biggest single sale was only 17{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} of Gerald Blotz’s holding.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$558k for 6.33k shares. On the other hand they divested 10.25k shares, for US$866k. All up, insiders sold more shares in Barrett Business Services than they bought, over the last year. 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!

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Insider Ownership

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Barrett Business Services insiders own about US$35m worth of shares. That equates to 5.3{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} of the company. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it’s enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

So What Do The Barrett Business Services Insider Transactions Indicate?

It’s certainly positive to see the recent insider purchase. On the other hand the transaction history, over the last year, isn’t so positive. The more recent transactions are a positive, but Barrett Business Services insiders haven’t shown the sustained enthusiasm that we look for, although they do own a decent number of shares, overall. So they seem pretty well aligned, overall. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it’s also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. To assist with this, we’ve discovered 1 warning sign that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of Barrett Business Services.

Of course Barrett Business Services 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, 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.