Notable Insider Buys Of The Past Week: AT&T, GoodRx, Opendoor Technologies And More

Market Trading EssentialsMay 23, 2021

3 minutes read

Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors, especially when markets are near all-time highs.
A couple of chief executive officers and a president were among the insiders buying shares this past week.
A leading telecom that just announced a major deal was among companies that saw notable insider buying.

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, though earnings reporting season is waning, some insiders are still prohibited from buying or selling shares. That said, here are some of the most noteworthy insider purchases that were reported in the past week.

A director at medical device maker Cutera, Inc. (NASDAQ: CUTR) indirectly bought more than 664,800 shares, more than doubling his stake. The purchase price was $29.50 per share, and that cost him over $19.61 million. Note that the San Francisco-area company posted better than expected quarterly results in the prior week.

The purchase of over 220,900 more PennyMac Financial Services Inc (NYSE: PFSI) shares by a director (and frequent buyer) for $59.94 to $60.95 per share totaled about $13.45 million. The latest buy raised that director’s stake to more than 2.48 million shares. Note that the mortgage company’s CEO also sold 30,000 shares last week.

A Goodrx Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: GDRX) beneficial owner indirectly scooped up more than 393,800 of its shares last week. At prices ranging from $29.42 to $32.91 a share, the purchases totaled around $12.12 million. Note that this owner purchased shares of Qualtrics during the week as well.

Darren Mercer, chief executive officer at MICT Inc (NASDAQ: MICT) received 6 million shares last week. At $1.41 per share, that added up to $8.46 million. Shares ended last week trading at $1.81 apiece. Note that this fintech company is expected to post quarterly results on Monday, May 24.

Qualtrics International Inc (NASDAQ: XM) had a 10% owner add more than 23,000 shares to its stake in the past week. Along with more than 194,500 shares it indirectly bought in the previous week, that added up to almost $6.75 million. Those shares cost between $29.36 and $32.60 apiece. Note that this owner purchased shares of GoodRx during the week, as well, and that the stock caught a big upgrade last week too.

In the same week that it named a new chief executive, Esperion Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: ESPR) saw a beneficial owner pay around $20.37 apiece for 200,000 of its shares. That totaled more than $4.07 million. This same owner also added 230,000 shares earlier this month. The stock ended the week at $20.76 per share.

The Applovin Corp (NASDAQ: APP) president, Herald Chen, and another director bought almost 41,900 shares altogether at between $58.28 and $64.90 apiece. That cost them more than $2.52 million, but shares of the mobile technology company were last seen trading up at $68.35 per share.

In the wake of its better than expected quarterly results, Opendoor Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: OPEN) had a director pick up 67,700 shares at around $14.75 apiece. This added up to almost $998,500. The timing seems fortunate here too, as the real estate services provider ended the week trading at $15.12 per share.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) CEO John Stankey and another executive took advantage of last week’s post-merger-announcement dip to add almost 20,000 shares altogether to their stakes. Those shares cost $28.80 to $29.60 apiece, which totaled more than $1.58 million. The stock was last seen trading at $30.01 a share.

Note that some smaller amount of insider buying at Bloom Energy Corp (NYSE: BE), Cable One Inc (NYSE: CABO), Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE: EPD), Keurig Dr Pepper Inc (NASDAQ: KDP), Pool Corporation (NASDAQ: POOL) and 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE: DDD) was reported in the past week as well.