Last Week's Notable Insider Buys: Del Taco, First American And More

• Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors when markets face uncertainty.
• Some insiders were buying shares in the wake of earnings reports last week.
• A couple of insiders made return trips to the buy window.

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.

Though buy windows have closed for many insiders during the earnings season, others continued to add shares despite market volatility and economic uncertainty. Here are some of the most noteworthy insider purchases reported in the past week.

Selecta Biosciences

Last week, a Selecta Biosciences Inc SELB director indirectly added more than 5.31 million shares at $2.17 to $2.80 apiece. That totaled more than $13.36 million and brought the director's stake to over 14.48 million shares. This director also purchased around 3.73 million shares of this clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company earlier this month.

The company has a gene therapy that received a nod from the FDA last week, and the share price was at $2.83 as Friday's regular trading ended. That is up more than 16% in the past month. The stock has traded as high as $4.83 in the past 52-weeks, but it has a $6.71 consensus price target.

Radius Global Infrastructure

New York-based Radius Global Infrastructure Inc RADI saw a beneficial owner return to the buy window. At $8.00 per share, the 250,000 shares most recently acquired totaled $2.00 million. That owner also bought 500,000 shares in the previous week and more than 668,000 shares before that, all for the same price.

These buys come after shares recently began trading on the Nasdaq. Shares of this communications infrastructure company closed Friday's trading at $7.82, below that insider's purchase price. The stock has traded between $6.57 and of $9.75 a share thus far.

Del Taco Restaurants

Quick-service restaurant operator and franchisor Del Taco Restaurants Inc TACO had a director add to his stake by buying 67,400 shares in batches at prices ranging from $7.27 to $7.73 a share. Those transactions totaled more than $504,500 and brought the stake to over 429,700 shares.

Investors were not impressed with Del Taco's earnings beat earlier this month. The share price was last seen at $8.12, above the director's purchase price, but still down almost 13% since the quarterly report. The stock has traded as high as $10.43 in the past year and has a consensus target price of $11.00.

See Also: Insider Sells Neogen's Shares

First American Financial

Just after a better than expected earnings report, a director at First American Financial Corp FAF purchased 4,000 shares of Santa Ana, California-based company at about $47.78 apiece. That cost him more than $191,100. And that director's stake was listed as up to almost 38,100 shares.

First American also announced last week that it has received a Wells notice from the SEC. The share price retreated about 11% in the past week to close at $48.41 on Friday. The share price is up more than 15% since the year-to-date low during the pandemic panic-selling back in March. It had a $62.80 consensus price target on last look.

Triumph Bancorp

An executive acquired 7,000 Triumph Bancorp Inc TBK shares midweek. At $26.00 per share, the purchase cost him $182,000. Note that this executive made his purchase in the wake of a better than expected third-quarter report that was followed by analyst downgrades.

Shares of this Dallas-based financial holding company closed most recently at $45.86, after popping 8% last week and hitting a multiyear high of $46.66. The stock is almost 46% since the March low. The consensus price target is only $34.64.

And Others

Some smaller amount of insider buying in Alcoa Corp AA, Blackstone Group Inc BX, Fastenal Company FAST, Texas Pacific Land Trust TPL and West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. WST was reported last week as well.