Famous Investor Continues Large Insider Buying: Lands’ End, Cree, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Cheniere Energy and More

[cnxvideo id=”655402″ placement=”ros”]Third-quarter earnings are in full swing on Wall Street, and while many companies have shut insider trading windows for the near term, some are still wide open for executives and 10% owners to do transactions. This coming week will be another blitz of earnings reports, but then things should start to slow down, and insider activity could pick back up.

We cover insider buying each week at 24/7 Wall St., and we like to remind readers that while insider buying is usually a very positive sign, it is not in of itself a reason to run out and buy a stock. Sometimes insiders and 10% owners have stock purchase plans set up at intervals to add to their holdings. That aside, it remains an overall positive indicator.

Here are some of the companies that reported notable insider buying last week.

Lands’ End

A well-known investor was buying Lands’ End Inc. (NASDAQ: LE) shares last week. Edward Lampert has been acquiring shares of the retailer at a furious pace, and last week was no exception. He bought a total of 144,298 shares of the company at prices that ranged from $14.78 to $14.98. The total for the trade was posted at $2 million.

The company operates as a multi-channel retailer through two segments: Direct and Retail. It offers casual clothing, accessories, footwear and home products, and it sells its products through its e-commerce, direct mail catalogs, dedicated Lands’ End Shops at Sears, stand-alone Lands’ End Inlet stores and international shops-in-shops. Shares closed Friday’s session at $15.45 apiece.

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Cree

Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE) had a director at the company buying stock this past week. That director purchased 5,000 shares of the company at a price of $22.34 per share. The total for the buy was posted at $100,000.

The company provides lighting-class light emitting diode (LED), lighting and semiconductor products for power and radio-frequency (RF) applications in the United States, China, Europe, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan and internationally. Its shares ended last week at $22.12.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

A director at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ALNY) also was purchasing shares last week. That director bought a total of 27,900 shares of the stock at $37 per share. The total for the trade was posted at $1 million.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals discovers, develops and commercializes novel therapeutics based on RNA interference. The company’s clinical development programs include Patisiran and Revusiran, which are in Phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR), as well as ALN-TTRsc02, an investigational RNAi therapeutic targeting TTR for the treatment of various forms of ATTR amyloidosis. The shares closed last Friday at $36.67.

Cheniere Energy

The man at the top at Cheniere Energy Inc. (NYSE: LNG) purchased stock last week. President and CEO Jack Fusco bought a total of 37,007 shares of stock at a price of $40.53. The total for the buy was set at $1,499,971.

The company engages in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) related business in the United States. It owns and operates Sabine Pass LNG terminal in western Cameron Parish, Louisiana, and Corpus Christi LNG terminal near Corpus Christi, Texas. It also owns Creole Trail Pipeline, a 94-mile pipeline interconnecting the Sabine Pass LNG terminal with various interstate pipelines. The stock closed Friday at $41.39, so the timing looks very solid.

Actuant

The CEO of Actuant Corp. (NYSE: ATU) also was buying stock last week. Randy Baker picked up a total of 15,000 shares of the company’s stock at prices that ranged from $22.00 to $22.45. The total for the trade was posted at $300,000.

The company designs, manufactures and distributes a range of industrial products and systems worldwide. Its shares were trading at $22.50 on Friday’s close.

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Here are some of the other companies that reported insider buying last week: Axogen Inc. (NASDAQ: AXGN), AZZ Inc. (NYSE: AZZ) First Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: FBMS), International Speedway Corp. (NASDAQ: ISCA) and Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc. (NYSE: RHP).

While it is subdued compared to non–earnings season, we are still seeing consistent buying in companies. With the market still bumping along near all-time highs, that remains a bullish sign.