Investors who take an interest in The Bank of Nova Scotia (TSE:BNS) should definitely note that the President, L. Thomson, recently paid CA$72.45 per share to buy CA$500k worth of the stock. That's a very decent purchase to our minds and it grew their holding by a solid 13%.

See our latest analysis for Bank of Nova Scotia

Bank of Nova Scotia Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Group Head & Chief Risk Officer, Philip Thomas, sold CA$525k worth of shares at a price of CA$79.10 per share. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. It's of some comfort that this sale was conducted at a price well above the current share price, which is CA$68.88. So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price. Philip Thomas was the only individual insider to sell shares in the last twelve months.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid CA$1.9m for 25.79k shares. But insiders sold 6.63k shares worth CA$525k. Overall, Bank of Nova Scotia insiders were net buyers during the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

Bank of Nova Scotia is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of under-the-radar companies with insider buying.

Does Bank of Nova Scotia 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. Our data indicates that Bank of Nova Scotia insiders own about CA$13m worth of shares (which is 0.01% of the company). Whilst better than nothing, we're not overly impressed by these holdings.

So What Do The Bank of Nova Scotia Insider Transactions Indicate?

The recent insider purchases are heartening. And the longer term insider transactions also give us confidence. Insiders likely see value in Bank of Nova Scotia shares, given these transactions (along with notable insider ownership of the company). Therefore, you should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Bank of Nova Scotia.

But note: Bank of Nova Scotia 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 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.