The Past Week’s Notable Insider Buys: ConocoPhillips, Cricut, Energy Transfer And More

Market Trading EssentialsAugust 14, 2021

3 minutes read

Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors, especially when markets are near all-time highs.
Some energy companies, including a supermajor, have seen some insider buying.
Chief executive officers were among those stepping up to the buy window during the week.

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 they want to profit from it. So insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors, particularly when there is uncertainty in the markets or the markets are near all-time highs.

Note that with earnings-reporting season past its peak, many insiders are free once more to buy or sell shares. Here are a few of the most noteworthy insider purchases that were reported in the past week.

In the latest of a number of purchases stretching back to late May, a Cricut Inc (NASDAQ: CRCT) 10% owner picked up over 1.70 million more shares at prices ranging from $25.00 to $34.60 apiece. These latest purchases added up to over $48.06 million. Note that the stock was trading at less than $28 when that owner began buying the shares, and it has been as high as $47.36 since its initial public offering.

The Energy Transfer LP (NYSE: ET) chief executive, Kelcy Warren, purchased about 3 million shares, and the chief financial officer also picked up 5,000 shares last week. At $9.04 to $9.49 apiece, the cost for those shares totaled around $19.08 million. Note that the stock closed the week trading at $9.51 per share.

The indirect purchase of more than 102,700 Kodiak Sciences Inc (NASDAQ: KOD) shares by a 10% owner at $84.23 to $89.00 apiece totaled more than $8.96 million. The owner’s nearly 13.1 million share stake compares to more than 45 million shares outstanding. The stock ended the week trading at $88.90.

Midweek, a director at Tennessee-based Tivity Health Inc (NASDAQ: TVTY) acquired 165,000 of its shares via trust. At prices ranging from $21.43 to $22.22 per share, the transactions added up to more than $3.48 million. Shares were changing hands at $23.13 as the week came to a close.

A Martin Midstream Partners L.P. (NASDAQ: MMLP) director has acquired over 1.18 million shares for $2.65 to $2.98 apiece. That cost that director almost $3.32 million. Some other insiders recently bought less than 1,500 shares altogether as well, and the stock closed on Friday at $3.22 a share.

Dun & Bradstreet Holdings Inc (NYSE: DNB) saw CEO Anthony Jabbour add about 109,800 shares during the week, and two other executives picked up over 13,700 shares as well. These transactions added up to more than $2.25 million altogether, at share prices ranging from $18.12 to $18.63. The shares were last seen trading above that range, at $19.23 apiece.

Real estate investment company Kennedy-Wilson Holdings Inc (NYSE: KW) also saw its CEO, William McMorrow, step up to the buy window last week. He added 100,000 shares via trust to his stake for $21.10 apiece. That totaled $2.11 million, and it lifted the stake to almost 9.20 million shares.

A Fiserv Inc (NASDAQ: FISV) director purchased some shares of the Wisconsin-based fintech in the middle of last week. At an average per-share price of $111.28, the 12,500 shares acquired cost that director almost $1.40 million. Shares closed at $111.62 on Friday but have traded as high as $127.34 so far this year.

Oil supermajor ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) saw a director bolstering a stake too. The 22,500 shares acquired altogether cost that director almost $1.25 million. The share price averaged about $55.50. The stock was last seen trading at $55.97 apiece, but it has traded as high as $63.57 a share this year.

Note that some smaller amount of insider buying at Bright Health Group Inc (NYSE: BHG) Cigna Corp (NYSE: CI), DXC Technology Co (NYSE: DXC), Elanco Animal Health Inc (NYSE: ELAN), Eaton Corporation PLC (NYSE: ETN) and Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (NYSE: LPX) was reported in the past week as well.