Notable Insider Buys In The Past Week: Carvana, MGM And More

Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors.

A number of insiders made return trips to the buy windows last week.

Resort and railroad operators were among those seeing insider buying.

Conventional wisdom says that insiders and 10% owners really only buy shares of a company for one reason — they believe the stock price will rise and they want to profit. So insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors, particularly during periods of uncertainty.

Insiders continued to take advantage of fallen share prices last week. The following are some of the most noteworthy insider purchases reported in the past week.

A pair of beneficial owners took advantage of a direct offering to add a total of 955,500 or so Carvana Co CVNA shares. At $45 per share, that cost them around $43 million. The used car company said it raised money for a restructuring effort.

MGM Resorts International MGM saw President William Hornbuckle and other insiders pick up almost 2.2 million shares for $10.60 to $12.35 each. That totaled over $25.51 million. Hornbuckle's stake is up to over 148,700 shares.

Virginia-based tech company Appian Corp AAPN saw a beneficial owner return to the buy window. At prices ranging from $35 to $42 for 384,400 or so shares, the latest purchases added up to more than $14.75 million.

A director sold 8,000 shares last week too.

A director at SYNNEX Corporation SNX bought 52,000 shares of this IT services company, and a 10% owner also added 50,000 shares. At $73.10 to $74.47 per share, that came to more than $7.57 million altogether. Note that the chief financial officer sold less than 300 shares as well.

A director of HD Supply Holdings Inc HDS indirectly purchased over 308,700 shares of this Atlanta-based industrial distributor at between $25.76 and $26.98 each. That totaled nearly $7.02 million. That director also bought more than 314,000 shares last month.

A Union Pacific Corporation UNP director shelled out $138.20 each for 15,000 shares of this Omaha-based railroad operator. That cost him more than $2.07 million and was pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Opko Health Inc. OPK CEO Phillip Frost, a frequent buyer, indirectly purchased almost 1.13 million shares of this biotech at $1.14 to $1.35 each. That totaled more than $1.59 million. Frost also added 300,000 shares the prior week.

An executive acquired almost 9,800 Baxter International Inc BAX shares last week, and a pair of directors sold some shares of this health care company. That buyer paid $82.09 to $82.25 per share, which cost him more than $803,800.

An Energy Transfer LP ET director acquired some shares of this master limited partnership recently. At about $4.88 each, the 120,000 shares added up to more than $586,900. A number of insiders were buyers throughout March.

See also: Bulls And Bears Of The Week: Amazon, Boeing, Microsoft, Twitter And More

In addition, note that there was some recent insider buying at Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. CBRL and Schlumberger Limited. SLB.

At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the mentioned equities.

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