Investing

8 Large Insider Buying Trades That Are Too Big to Ignore

Jon C. Ogg

Published: November 3, 2018 7:30 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 3:26 pm

After a big stock market sell-off and a subsequent snap-back rally, it’s always interesting to see how corporate directors are acting toward their own shares. It’s no secret that corporate insiders are generally larger sellers of their own shares than they are buyers, as that’s part of their overall compensation and net wealth. But what about when insiders are big buyers of their own company’s stock?

There are many reasons that insiders sell their shares. Maybe they want to buy a house or diversify their holdings, or maybe they want to lock in massive gains. When they buy shares of their own stock in the open market, there is generally one reason they do so — they think their shares are undervalued by the market.

The last week of October and start of November saw several big insiders purchasing shares in their own companies. Most of these purchases were after periods of weakness.

Here are eight large insider purchases made in recent days of about $1 million or more, some much more.

Allegiant Travel Company (NASDAQ: ALGT) saw President John Redmond buy almost $1.4 million worth of shares, with some 12,000 shares bought at an average of $115.42 per share. He now holds more than 108,000 shares.

ASGN Inc. (NASDAQ: ASGN) saw director Edwin Sheridan spend $1.3 million to purchase 20,000 shares at an average price of $65.33 per share on Oct. 26. He now holds 21,686 shares of ASGN.

Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE: CFR) saw director Carlos Alvarez acquire $5.06 million worth of stock. He purchased 54,000 shares at an average price of $93.71 and now holds 424,000 shares.

Hasbro Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) saw chairman and chief executive officer Brian Goldner spend just over $1 million to buy stock on Oct. 29. This was 11,000 shares at an average of $91.80 per share and he now holds 1.005 million shares of Hasbro.

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Mohawk Industries, Inc. (NYSE: MHK) saw director Filip Balcaen buy some $29.6 million worth of shares on Oct. 29. His purchase of 250,000 shares was at an average price of $118.42 and was after a large gap-down. Balcaen now owns over 652,000 shares.

Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: SRPT) had roughly a $2 million stock purchase on Oct. 30, with President and Chief Executive Officer Douglas Ingram buying 16,695 shares at an average of $120.39 per share. He now holds 415,945 shares of Sarepta. Unfortunately, Sarepta also saw its chief financial officer sell more than $13 million worth of Sarepta’s shares this last week.

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk spent more than $33.7 million buying 29,844 shares at an average price of $334.98 on Oct. 29. A prior regulatory filing had indicated the share buying.

Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN) saw director Martin Craighead spend roughly $999,500 to buy 10,900 shares of Texas Instruments on Oct. 25. His average purchase price was $91.70 and he now holds 13,100 shares.