Insider Buying Surges as Volatile Market Presents Buying Opportunity

We cover insider buying every week at 24/7 Wall St. and with the markets ultimately clinging to levels near all-time highs, insider buying strengthened with this week’s surge. We continue to monitor sectors like energy, looking for trends and buyers taking advantage of price irregularities.

Here are companies that reported notable insider buying this past week.

Navistar International Corp. (NYSE: NAV) had a 10% owner of the company add to its position in a big way this week. MHR Capital Partners bought a 925,000 share block of the stock at prices that ranged from $23.98 to $25.26. The total for the buy was a very strong $22.7 million. The company manufactures and sells commercial and military trucks, diesel engines and school and commercial buses, and it provides service parts for trucks and diesel engines worldwide. The stock was trading on Friday’s close at $25.18.

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Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD) is another company that had a 10% holder adding to shares last week. Fairholme Capital Management bought 305,000 shares of the iconic retailer’s stock at prices that fell in a wide range from $29.67 all the way up to $39.00. The total for the buy came to $10.5 million. Shares closed trading on Friday at $28.07. The shares sold off big-time this week as excitement over the company’s transformation to REIT status withered.

Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) had the executive chairman of the oil giant buying stock this past week. He picked up a 100,000-share block of the stock at a share price of $39.99. The total for the trade came in right at the $4 million mark. Kinder Morgan’s shares have struggled recently, and some very negative articles against the company surfaced this week. Shares ended the week at $38.92.

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX) has taken a beating over the past year, and a high up insider must be seeing value. The vice chairman of the company bought a block of 60,000 shares of the stock at $20.52 per share. The total for the buy came to $1.2 million. Freeport-McMoRan is a natural resource company that engages in the acquisition of mineral assets and oil and natural gas resources. Shares were trading at $19.81 on Friday’s close.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) had the president of the retailer placing orders to buy company shares last week. Christos Angelides bought a block of 45,2000 shares at a price of $22.16 apiece. The total for the buy came in right at $1 million. The shares ended trading on Friday at $22.55, so it may be a good sign for shareholders of the company.

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These companies also reported insider buying this week: Golub Capital (NASDAQ: GBDC), Joy Global Inc. (NYSE: JOY), Landstar Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: LSTR), Prospect Capital (NASDAQ: PSEC) and Upland Software (NASDAQ: UPLD).

Clearly insiders buying stock were out in full-force this week in much bigger numbers than the sellers. With the markets trading near all-time highs, this amount of buying is certainly a bullish sign.