With the busiest earnings week behind us, it appears some of the restriction windows at major U.S. corporations are starting to open up a little. While the volume was still lower than in non-earnings season months, it was much larger than the previous two weeks. While the sellers appear to still be producing more volume, there were some large purchases of top blue chip stocks last week.

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 still remains an overall positive indicator.

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

Kinder Morgan

A director at Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) made a huge purchase of shares last week. That director bought a block of 700,000 shares of the energy giant’s stock at $21.41 per share. The total for the trade was posted at $15 million.

Houston-based Kinder Morgan operates as an energy infrastructure company in North America. Its shares closed Friday’s trading at $20.43 apiece. Note that the stock is up almost 40% this year.

AT&T

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) also had a director acquiring shares last week. Geoffrey Yang bought a total of 27,139 shares of the telecommunications giant at a share price of $36.91. The total for the purchase was listed at $1,001,196.

The buy comes on the heels of a huge announcement by the company that it wants to buy Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX). While the regulatory hurdles may be steep, the combined entity would be a content and communications behemoth. AT&T shares closed on Friday at $36.51.

Kimberly-Clark

Another top blue chip company that had a director at the firm buying shares was Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB). That director bought a total of 200 shares of the stock at a price of $113.59. The total for the buy was set at $200,000.

The company manufactures and markets personal care, consumer tissue and professional products worldwide. Its stock ended last week’s trading at $114.55 per share, so the buy seems well-timed.

IBM

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) is yet another giant blue chip that had a director purchasing shares this past week. That director bought a total of 1,300 shares of the at the tech giant at a posted price of $149.93 per share. The total for the purchase was around $200,000. The stock closed the day on Friday at $152.61, so here too the timing of the buy looks solid.

Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson, Inc. (NYSE: JNJ) completes the director buying for last week, as a director at the medical products and prescription drug giant picked up 875 shares of the company stock at $114.11 apiece. The total for the trade was set at $100,000. Johnson & Johnson shares had risen to $115.70 by the time trading closed last Friday.

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And Others

These companies also reported insider buying last week. Agree Realty Corp, (NYSE: ADC), Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE), Gladstone Capital Corp, (NASDAQ: GLAD), Medley Capital Corp. (NASDAQ: MCC) and Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ: NKTR).

While not huge, there was plenty of blue chip buying, and that bodes well for a stock market that has a wall-of-worry right now. Volumes should continue to improve, and they may really spike when the election is finally over.

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