The Past Week's Notable Insider Buys Include Coupang, Keurig Dr Pepper, IPOs And More

• Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors, especially when markets are near all-time highs.
• Some insiders took advantage of initial public offerings in the past week.
• CEOs at a retailer, a software company and an insurer were among the insiders buying shares.

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 or the markets are near all-time highs.

With the earnings-reporting season over, plenty of insiders are now free to add to their stakes. Here are some of the most noteworthy insider purchases that were reported in the past week.

Prometheus Biosciences Inc RXDX saw several insiders, including 10% owners, directors and an officer, acquire over $54.23 million worth of shares last week. That was more than 2.85 million shares of this San Diego-based biotech at the initial public offering price of $19 per share.

A beneficial owner at pharmaceutical company Innoviva Inc INVA stepped up to the buy window midweek. That owner indirectly added more than 4.85 million shares to its stake, bringing it to over 6.15 million. At prices that averaged $3.25 per share, the transaction totaled nearly $13.93 million.

A group of directors and executives took advantage of a public offering of Merchants Bancorp MBIN stock. Altogether, they purchased 202,400 shares of this Indiana-based bank holding company. At $25 per share, that added up around $5.06 million. The bank has hiked its dividend as well.

A director returned last week to acquire another 71,800 or so PennyMac Financial Services Inc PFSI shares indirectly. At prices ranging from $64.75 to $65.28 per share, the total came to over $4.68 million. That same director bought more than 108,000 shares in the prior week.

After a disappointing earnings report earlier this month, GoHealth Inc GOCO CEO Clinton Jones and another director indirectly scooped up 356,000 shares altogether for $11.24 to $11.48 apiece. That added up to over $4.05 million. The stock closed Friday at $12.00 per share.

The 200,000 Thryv Holdings Inc THRY shares that CEO Joe Walsh purchased this past week had prices ranging averaging $18.67 apiece. These transactions cost him more than $3.73 million. Note that a 10% owner parted with over 360,000 shares of this software and marketing company last week as well.

The so-called Amazon of South Korea, Coupang Inc CPNG, recently completed its IPO. Two directors picked up more than 57,100 shares last week for the $35-per-share offering price. That cost them nearly $2 million. The stock has traded as high as $69 but ended the week near $45 a share.

CEO Wade Miquelon and several other Joann Inc JOAN insiders took advantage of this specialty retailer's IPO. The combined 105,000 shares they acquired, at the offering price of $12 a share, added up to over $1.26 million. Note that the shares ended the week's trading at $11.55 apiece.

Keurig Dr Pepper Inc KDP saw an executive add almost 37,400 shares early last week. The purchase prices for this beverage giant ranged from $33.30 to $33.53 a share, which cost that insider more than $1.24 million. An analyst upgrade pushed shares to $34.14 by week's end.

And, after purchasing 10,000 Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Co Ltd BHVN shares earlier this month, a director added more than 13,100 more last week. At a secondary offering price of $76.00 apiece, the latest transaction cost the director just shy of $1 million. The stock ended the week trading at $70.47 a share.

See also: PreMarket Prep Stock Of The Day: Dropbox

Note that some smaller amount of insider buying at Abercrombie & Fitch Co. ANF, Crown Castle International Corp CCI, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. CMG, Oracle Corporation ORCL and Perrigo Company PLC PRGO was reported in the past week as well.

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

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Photo by Katherine Kromberg on Unsplash.