Notable Insider Buys Last Week: Blackstone, CarMax And More

• Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors when markets face uncertainty.


• Some insiders were making return trips to the buy window last week.


• Some of those purchases were made by C-level executives.


 

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 when markets are near all-time highs.

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

Last week, new director Brett Icahn purchased more than 202,700 Icahn Enterprises LP IEP depositary units at $49.32 apiece. That totaled around $10 million. Those units were sold by board chair Carl Icahn, father of that director. Note that Carl Icahn purchased Xerox shares last month. Icahn Enterprises stock ended last week trading at $50.05 a share.

Continental Resources Inc. CLR saw Executive Chair Harold Hamm recently return to the buy window. More than 769,200 shares were acquired most recently for $12.35 to $12.93 each. That totaled over $9.75 million. Hamm also bought almost $66.90 million worth of shares back in July. Shares of this Oklahoma-City based company fell about 3% last week to end at $12.30.

The chief executive at Odonate Therapeutics Inc ODT, Kevin Tang, indirectly purchased more than 110,800 shares of this San Diego-based biotech for $12.71 to $13.90 apiece. Two directors also scooped up 430,400 shares altogether for $12.71 to $13.90 apiece. These transactions totaled more than $7.32 million. Shares ended last week at $14.66, above these purchase prices.

A Blackstone Group Inc BX beneficial owner made an indirect purchase of 250,000 shares of this asset management firm last week. At $16 per share, the total for the transaction was $4.00 million. That owner also bought 250,000 shares back in July, and the stake is now up to 1.93 million shares. The stock was last seen trading at $53.68 per share.

CEO Jordan Kaplan added more than 36,000 Douglas Emmett Inc. DEI shares to his stake last week. Prices for this real estate investment trust ranged from $24.96 to $25.68 per share, and the purchase cost him more than $918,500. Kaplan also bought over 3,200 shares in the prior week. The stake is now up to more than 2.77 million shares, which closed most recently at $26.43.

See also: Apple CEO Tim Cook Gets First Stock Grant In A Decade Worth Over $114M

A director at Phillips 66 Partners LP PSXP picked up 15,000 shares of this Houston-based company recently. At prices of about $21.70 per share, that came to more than $325,400. The stake was listed as up to more than 42,200 shares. Third-quarter results are scheduled for the end of October, and the stock ended the week more than 3% higher to $22.81, above the director's purchase price.

A Steelcase Inc. SCS executive added 30,000 more shares of this furniture and architectural products maker. At $9.81 to $10.05 per share, that came to about $301,200. The company recently posted better than expected second-quarter results. The stock popped more than 18% in the past week to close Friday at $11.49, so the timing of the executive's purchase looks fortunate.

CarMax, Inc KMX had a director make a notable buy at the end of the quarter. Some 27,000 shares were acquired for $93.40 each. That totaled almost $252,200 and more than doubled the stake. The used vehicle retailer recently resumed buying back its shares, and the stock ended the past week less than 2% higher to $95.55 a share, so here too the purchase seems well timed.

Note that some smaller amount of insider buying at CH Robinson Worldwide Inc. CHRW, First Financial Bancorp FFBC, Progress Software Corp. PRGS and Terex Corp. TEX was reported last week.

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

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