Big Franchise Restaurant Purchase Highlights Recent Insider Buying

We cover insider buying each week here at 24/7 Wall St., and the amount of high level executives and 10% institutional owners adding to positions is in line with recent weeks, but executives looking for big discounts seems to be the rule. Insiders buy stock for many different reasons, but obviously the main one is they work there, or close to the company, and like what they see.

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

Famous Dave’s of America Inc. (NASDAQ: DAVE) hits our screens once again, and it has been a frequent visitor all year. Wexford Capital, a 10% owner, continues to buy shares, and this past week the firm purchased 585,703 shares of the stock at prices that ranged from $18.88 to $19.63 apiece. The total for the buy came to $11.3 million. Famous Dave’s of America develops, owns, operates and franchises restaurants under the Famous Dave’s name. Shares closed trading on Friday at $20.41.

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Upland Software Inc. (NASDAQ: UPLD) also had a 10% reload last week. ESW Capital bought 385,625 shares of the stock at $8 per share. The total for that buy came to $3.1 million. Upland Software provides cloud-based enterprise work management software. The shares were trading on Friday’s close at $8.78.

Basic Energy Services Inc. (NYSE: BAS) had a director of the oil services company buying stock this past week. That director purchased a block of 148,500 shares at prices that ranged from $7.19 to $7.34. That cost him about $1.07 million. Basic Energy Services provides well site services to oil and natural gas drilling and producing companies in the United States. Shares ended the week at $7.46, so a well-timed buy.

Ignyta Inc. (NASDAQ: RXDX) had a managing member of the general partner buying stock last week. A director of the company purchased 65,714 shares of the stock at $17.50. The total for the buy came to $1.2 million. Ignyta is a precision oncology biotechnology company that engages in discovering, acquiring, developing and commercializing of new drugs for cancer patients. Note though that shares had dropped to $15.17 by the end of the week.

MBIA Inc. (NYSE: MBI) had somebody right at the top of the C suites buying stock. The CEO purchased a block of 75,000 shares at $8.98 apiece. The total came to $673,000. MBIA provides financial guarantee insurance services to public finance markets in the United States and internationally. The shares ended trading on Friday at $8.32.

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These companies also reported insider buying this past week: Actua Corp. (NASDAQ: ACTA), Lands’ End Inc. (NASDAQ: LE), Luby’s Inc. (NYSE: LUB), Network-1 Technologies Inc. (NYSE: NTIP) and Unit Corp. (NYSE: UNT).

With summer now officially on, volumes are slowing across the board as vacation time starts to kick in. Solid and steady buying is the course now, but that looks to slow as earnings start in July.