Oportun Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:OPRT) insiders who bought shares over the past year were rewarded handsomely last week. The stock rose 35%, resulting in a US$70m rise in the company's market capitalisation, translating to a gain of 121% on their initial investment. In other words, the original US$449.1k purchase is now worth US$993.7k.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.

View our latest analysis for Oportun Financial

Oportun Financial Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The CFO & Chief Administrative Officer Jonathan Coblentz made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$100k worth of shares at a price of US$3.91 each. Although we like to see insider buying, we note that this large purchase was at significantly below the recent price of US$7.57. Because the shares were purchased at a lower price, this particular buy doesn't tell us much about how insiders feel about the current share price.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 131.26k shares worth US$449k. On the other hand they divested 24.81k shares, for US$77k. In the last twelve months there was more buying than selling by Oportun Financial insiders. The average buy price was around US$3.42. To my mind it is good that insiders have invested their own money in the company. However, we do note that they were buying at significantly lower prices than today's share price. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of undervalued small cap companies that insiders are buying.

Oportun Financial Insiders Bought Stock Recently

At Oportun Financial,over the last quarter, we have observed quite a lot more insider buying than insider selling. In fact, five insiders bought US$318k worth of shares. On the other hand, insiders netted US$44k by selling. We think insiders may be optimistic about the future, since insiders have been net buyers of shares.

Does Oportun Financial 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. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Insiders own 8.9% of Oportun Financial shares, worth about US$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 Oportun Financial Insiders?

It is good to see recent purchasing. And an analysis of the transactions over the last year also gives us confidence. However, we note that the company didn't make a profit over the last twelve months, which makes us cautious. Given that insiders also own a fair bit of Oportun Financial 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. For example - Oportun Financial has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting 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 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.