Notable Insider Buys Of The Past Week: Howard Hughes, Party City, Perrigo And More

• Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors, especially when markets face uncertainty.
• A beneficial owner began the new year with a buying spree.
• Insiders at a private equity firm, a real estate company and a pharmaceutical company added to their stakes as well, as the new year got underway.

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 there is uncertainty in the markets, as there has been due to the pandemic resurgence and political issues.

Here are some of the most noteworthy insider purchases that were reported in the past week.

Real estate development and management company Howard Hughes Corp HHC saw 10% owner Pershing Square Capital Management increase its stake. The more than 2.51 million shares acquired, at $79.12 apiece, added up to over $199.13 million. Note that this owner also sold more than 574,800 shares last week. The stock ended the past week's trading at $80.86 per share.

A 10% owner began the year by adding 645,000 At Home Group Inc HOME shares to his stake. That owner paid $15.68 to $17.55 each, which totaled more than $10.74 million. Shares of this home decor superstore operator closed most recently above that purchase price range, at $19.18 a share. Note that this same beneficial owner also bought Party City and World Acceptance shares last week (see below).

World Acceptance Corp. WRLD saw a 10% owner indirectly acquire 48,000 shares of this South Carolina-based consumer finance company. Prices ranged from $104.27 per share to $111.43. The transactions totaled more than $5.29 million and raised the stake to over 755,700 shares. The stock closed trading most recently at $123.88, so this purchase also appears to be fortunately timed. Note that this same beneficial owner also bought At Home Group and Party City shares last week.

A 10% owner indirectly acquired 723,000 Party City Holdco Inc PRTY shares at $6.10 to $6.34 apiece early last week. The total for those purchases added up to more than $4.58 million. Shares of this specialty retailer popped about 30% in the week's trading and closed Friday at $7.97, which is well above the purchase price range above. Note that this same beneficial owner also bought At Home Group and World Acceptance shares last week (see above).

Midstream oil and gas company Cheniere Energy Partners LP CQP saw a 10% owner return to add over 42,400 more shares to its stake last week. At $34.58 to $35.25 per share, the transaction totaled more than $1.48 million. The stock closed most recently at $36.15, which is above the most recent purchase price range. That same owner also acquired almost 145,000 shares at the end of last year.

Seven directors (including the board chair) at Compass Diversified Holdings CODI altogether purchased 36,500 shares of this Connecticut-based private equity firm. At prices averaging about $19.61 per share, that cost them more than $717,300. The firm declared its fourth-quarter dividends last week, and the stock was last seen trading at $20.75 a share. So these purchases appear to be well-timed.

And a Perrigo Company PLC PRGO executive acquired more than 7,500 shares of this Dublin, Ireland-based pharmaceutical company. The purchase price was $43.48 per share, which cost that director more than $326,600. Note that the transaction was pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan. The stock ended last week about where it began and was last seen trading at $44.64 a share.

See also: Carl Icahn Dilutes Stake In Herbalife To 6%: Report

Note that there also was some smaller amount of insider buying at Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp AUB, Columbia Banking System Inc COLB, Consolidated Edison, Inc. ED and Omega Healthcare Investors Inc OHI reported in the first trading week of the year.

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

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