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The purchase of insider information can be an encouraging sign for potential investors when markets face uncertainty.
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Purchases from biopharmaceutical companies and shares from specialist retailers were reported last week.
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Some insiders took advantage of the initial and secondary public offerings as well.
Conventional wisdom says that insiders and 10% owners actually only buy shares in a company for one reason – they believe the stock price will go up and want to profit from it. Therefore, the purchase of insider information can be an encouraging sign for potential investors, especially when there is uncertainty in the markets, as occurred due to the resurgence of the pandemic and political issues.
Here are some of the most notable insider purchases that were reported last week, as the year approaches and investors reflect on the new year.
The recent Bioatla Inc (NASDAQ: BCAB) The IPO encouraged a 10% former owner and a director to buy. The nearly 2.19 million shares that they acquired in total at $ 18 per share totaled about $ 39.4 million. The shares of this San Diego-based biopharmaceutical company ended last week’s trading at $ 31.82 each.
Daniel Loeb, a 10% owner, bought a large block of Upstart Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: UPST) shares at an initial public offering price of $ 20 each. The total of 1.20 million shares of this cloud-based lending platform operator that the owner acquired amounted to $ 24 million. The shares ended the week’s trading at $ 43.96 each after reaching a post-IPO high of $ 51.40.
GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) recently saw a beneficiary owner indirectly acquire nearly $ 757,000 shares from this specialist retailer. Prices ranged from $ 14.77 to $ 16.02 per share. The transactions totaled more than $ 19.02 million and increased the holding to approximately 9 million shares. The stock recently closed at $ 20.15, above the owner’s purchase price range.
A director in Arvinas Inc (NASDAQ: ARVN) indirectly bought more than 142,800 shares of this New Haven, Connecticut biopharmaceutical company in a secondary offering. At an offer price of US $ 70 per share, the total for this transaction reached almost US $ 10 million. The shares were last traded for more than $ 82.
AN Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE: FL) The 10% owner returned last week to buy another 108,200 shares from this specialist retailer for $ 38.12 to $ 39 each. This totaled almost $ 4.2 million and raised that stake to more than 12.93 million shares. Note that its owner has purchased more than 761,400 shares so far this month. The stock recently closed at $ 39.49.
CEO Kevin Tang approached the buying window last week and paid $ 14.05 to $ 15.79 each for more than 275,700 Odonate Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: ODT) shares. This cost him more than $ 4.18 million and raised his stake in this San Diego-based company to more than 15.51 million shares.
Service provider for the financial sector, Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ: JKHY), saw a director add another 8,900 shares to his bet last week. From $ 155.61 to $ 156.70, this totaled more than $ 1.39 million, and raised its stake to more than 32,800 shares. The last stock closed at $ 157.69.
O NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) CFO acquired 15,000 shares. At prices ranging from $ 63.51 to $ 64.24 per share, it cost you over $ 958,300. The cloud computing company’s stock hit a new 52-week high of $ 67.63 afterwards. Note that some of the shares were acquired under an employee’s stock purchase plan.
AND Guidewire Software Inc (NYSE: GWRE) caused a director to buy shares indirectly at a time when other insiders were selling. The 6,000 shares that the director acquired cost him more than $ 746,900, at prices per share ranging from $ 124.45 to $ 124.50. The stock ended last week at $ 127.21.
See too: Insider sells shares of Nucor
Note that there was also a smaller amount of domestic purchases in Coupa Software Inc (NASDAQ: COUP), Eos Energy Enterprises Inc (NASDAQ: EOSE), Greif, Inc. (NASDAQ: CURI), Mustang Bio Inc (NASDAQ: MBIO) and Vistra Corp (NYSE: VST).
At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the aforementioned actions.
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