Potential i-80 Gold Corp. (TSE:IAU) shareholders may wish to note that the CEO & Director, Richard Young, recently bought CA$689k worth of stock, paying CA$0.58 for each share. That certainly has us anticipating the best, especially since they thusly increased their own holding by 175%, potentially signalling some real optimism.

Check out our latest analysis for i-80 Gold

i-80 Gold Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent purchase by CEO & Director Richard Young was not the only time they bought i-80 Gold shares this year. Earlier in the year, they paid CA$1.52 per share in a CA$1.0m purchase. That means that even when the share price was higher than CA$0.91 (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 if insiders have bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid CA$3.0m for 3.02m shares. But insiders sold 130.00k shares worth CA$255k. Overall, i-80 Gold insiders were net buyers during the last year. The average buy price was around CA$0.99. These transactions suggest that insiders have considered the current price attractive. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

i-80 Gold is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of under-the-radar companies with insider buying.

Insider Ownership

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. It appears that i-80 Gold insiders own 6.6% of the company, worth about CA$24m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

So What Does This Data Suggest About i-80 Gold Insiders?

The recent insider purchases are heartening. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. But we don't feel the same about the fact the company is making losses. Given that insiders also own a fair bit of i-80 Gold we think they are probably pretty confident of a bright future. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for i-80 Gold (of which 2 are potentially serious!) you should know about.

But note: i-80 Gold 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.