Notable Insider Buys: Acceleron, Continental And Syneos Health

• Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors.
• The executive chair of a petroleum production company returned to the buy window last week.
• Notable insider purchases were also seen at two biopharmaceutical companies

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.

Insiders continued to add shares despite overall market volatility and economic uncertainty. Here are some of the most noteworthy insider purchases reported in the past week.

Continental Resources

Continental Resources, Inc. CLR saw its founder and executive chair, Harold Hamm, return and purchase more than 1.52 additional shares last week. At per-share prices between $16.23 and $18.10, that totaled nearly $26.74 million. His stake is up to more than 12.29 million shares. The total float is about 69.8 million shares.

Hamm has been buying shares for almost a month, pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan. Continental Resources stock pulled back more than 12% last week and was last seen at $16.03 a share. That is below Hamm's most recent purchase price range. The share price still is up nearly 8% since the year-to-date low back in early March.

Acceleron

Acceleron Pharma Inc XLRN saw 10% owner and partner Celgene recently take advantage of a secondary offering to acquire more than 108,000 shares for $92.50 apiece. That totaled just shy of $10 million. Note that Celgene is a subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. BMY.

Cambridge Massachusetts-based Acceleron recently posted positive heart drug study results. Its stock closed down marginally last week at $99.99 a share, above Celgene's purchase price. The share price is more than 88% higher since the beginning of the year but has a consensus target price of $123.80.

See Also: Insider Sells Marvell Technology Group's Shares

Syneos Health

A director purchased almost 8,700 Syneos Health Inc SYNH shares early last week. The share price was $59.11, and the total for the transaction came to more than $513,700. This also was pursuant to a 10b5-1 trading plan, and that director's stake almost doubled.

Its second-quarter earnings report is due August 6. Syneos Health shares ended last week about 2% lower to $56.38. That is below the above purchase price. While the share price is about 33% higher since its year-to-date low in March, it is still well below its consensus price target of $64.67.

Furthermore, note that some amount of insider buying at Bloomin' Brands Inc BLMN, Cooper Companies Inc COO and Herman Miller, Inc. MLHR was reported last week as well.