Notable Insider Buys Last Week: Kinder Morgan, Trinity And More

Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors.

Past insider buyers returned to take advantage of falling share prices.

Two energy companies and an industrial saw notable insider purchases.

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 from it. So insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors, particularly during periods of uncertainty.

Here are a few of significant insider purchases reported last week as markets sold off sharply.

Kinder Morgan

The Kinder Morgan Inc KMI executive chair of the board, Richard Kinder, took advantage of the pullback to resume his buying. He picked up 600,000 more shares of this Houston-based energy infrastructure giant last week at $18.73 to $20.80 each, while CEO Steven Kean bought 5,000 shares for about $18.61 apiece. Altogether that totaled more than $11.97 million. Kinder was a frequent buyer of shares last year.

Coronavirus fears have had a significant impact on global oil prices. Kinder Morgan stock was trading at $19.15 a share on last look, above Kean's purchase price. The stock has traded as high as $22.58 in the past year, and the analysts' consensus price target is $22.35.

Enterprise Products Partners

A director at Enterprise Products Partners L.P. EPD returned to purchase 108,000 more shares of this midstream energy services provider via trust last week. At $23.73 to $25.32 per share, the purchase totaled more than $7.51 million. That director also bought 150,000 shares in the previous week.

The Houston-based company felt the same impact on global oil demand and prices. Enterprise Products Partners retreated 6% last week to $23.34 a share. Analysts still recommend buying the shares, and the consensus target price now suggests 47% or so upside from the most recent close.

Trinity Industries

A Trinity Industries Inc TRN director also stepped up to the buy window this past week. That director indirectly picked up less than 220,000 shares of this transportation products and services company at $20.57 to $20.97 each. Those transactions totaled around $5.73 million and brought the director's stake to nearly 26.17 million shares.

The company recently posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter results but also felt the sting of the market correction. Trinity Industries stock closed Friday at $20.33 a share, below the director's purchase price range, and down over 6% in the past week. The shares hit a 52-week high of $26.64 last month.

See also: 3 Reasons Why Top Hedge Funds Have Changed Their Minds On Uber

In addition, there was some insider purchasing last week at KKR & Co Inc KKR, LYFT Inc LYFT and Six Flags Entertainment SIX.

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

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