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Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors, especially when markets face uncertainty.
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Some insiders have been taking advantage of secondary offerings recently.
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Others have been adding to their stakes in the wake of earnings reports.
Conventional wisdom says that insiders and 10% owners really only buy shares of a company for one reason — they believe the stock price will rise and want to profit from it. So insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors, particularly when there is uncertainty in the markets. Note that with earnings reporting season in full swing, buy windows for many insiders are closed.
Here are some of the most noteworthy insider purchases that were reported in the past week.
Outlook Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: OTLK) had a 10% owner and a director both increase their stakes last week. They acquired 11.36 million shares altogether, at a secondary offering price of $1 per share. The stock closed most recently at $2.18 per share.
A beneficial owner recently indirectly acquired around 4.22 million Vyne Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: VYNE) shares at $2.37 apiece. That totaled about $10 million and boosted the owner’s stake to over 27.09 million shares. The stock closed most recently at $2.75 per share, after popping 39% for the week.
A pair of 10% owners have picked up almost 363,900 shares altogether of Bridge Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: BDGE). That cost them more than $8.53 million, at prices ranging from $25.28 to $26.24 per share. Note that Bridge Bancorp completed its merger with Dime Community Bancshares early last week.
The CEO at Surgalign Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: SRGA), another executive and four directors all took advantage of a public offering. Altogether, they acquired almost 3.66 million shares at $1.50 apiece. That cost that them over $5.48 million. The stock was last seen trading at $2.67 a share.
MSC Industrial Direct Co Inc (NYSE: MSM) saw a director recently acquire nearly 67,800 shares. At share prices that ranged from $77.72 to $78.26, the total for the purchase came to around $5.29 million. Shares ended this past week trading at $85.64. An executive purchased almost 4,300 shares last week as well.
A beneficial owner last week bought 130,000 Evelo Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ: EVLO) shares at a secondary offering price of $15 apiece. The total for that came to about $1.95 million, and it boosted the owner’s stake to more than 4.12 million shares. The stock ended last week trading at $16.99 per share.
CEO Jochen Zeitz added 30,800 more Harley-Davidson Inc (NYSE: HOG) shares to his stake in the wake of a disappointing quarterly report last week. At prices ranging from $32.42 to $32.49 per share, that totaled around $1 million. The share price retreated about 15% last week to end at $33.69, still above Zeitz’ purchase price range.
One Texas Instruments Incorporated (NASDAQ: TXN) director bucked the recent insider selling trend by adding less than 6,000 shares. At prices between $166.78 and $167 per share, that cost him almost $997,300. Note that this insider activity followed a better than expected fourth-quarter report.
Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE: BRO) had a director step up and buy the recent dip. The 10,000 shares he acquired, at share prices of between $43.35 and $43.40, added up to almost $433,800. This insurer also recently posted better than expected earnings, and its shares closed most recently at $44.77 apiece.
And Alliance Data Systems Corporation (NYSE: ADS) saw an independent director acquire via trust some 6,000 shares. At a share price of about $68.46, that added up to more than $410,700. The stock ended Friday trading at $84.86 per share, after a pop of more than 24% last week.
See also: Koss Family Cashes Out Amid Reddit-Fueled Short Squeeze
Note that some smaller amount of insider buying at Accuray Incorporated (NASDAQ: ARAY), Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW), Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE: ED), Crown Castle International Corp (NYSE: CCI) and Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE: CFR) was reported in the past week as well.
At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the mentioned equities.
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Photo by Texas Instruments via Wikimedia.
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