David Wilson, President and CEO of Columbus McKinnon Corporation (CMCO), recently bought 31,300 shares. The buy increased his stake by 24%, and came to a total cost of $1,002,155.
This is the first insider buy since August, when a company SVP bought a small position for less than $1,000. And a company director was a buyer in May, picking up $58,000 of shares in an initial stake. Going back further, insiders were slight sellers of shares.
Overall, Columbus McKinnon insiders own 2.4% of shares.
The agricultural equipment manufacturer is down 5% over the past year, far lagging the gains in the overall stock market. That’s about in-line with the company’s performance, which saw revenues drop 6%, and investors only saw a small level of earnings.
However, Columbus McKinnon looks set to turn its operations around, and shares now trade at just 10 times forward earnings. Plus, shares trade at 0.9 times their price to sales and right at book value, indicating a slight value here.
Action to take: Shares are starting to trend higher from their early September lows, and today’s buyers may see low double-digit returns in the months ahead.
At current prices, Columbus McKinnon pays a 0.9% dividend.
For traders, with shares trending higher, the March 2025 $35 calls, last trading at about $2.45, could leverage a low-double-digit return in shares over the next few months into mid-to-high double-digit returns.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any company mentioned in this article.