The Past Week's Notable Insider Buys Include Ring Energy, SentinelOne, SPACs And More

• Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors, especially when markets are near all-time highs.
• Special purpose acquisition companies attracted some notable insider buying las week.
• A prominent hedge fund manager and two chief executive officers stepped up 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 there is uncertainty in the markets or the markets are near all-time highs.

Note that a new earnings-reporting season has begun and many insiders are prohibited from buying or selling shares. Here are some of the most noteworthy insider purchases that were reported in the past week.

A Rodgers Silicon Valley Acquisition Corp. RSVA beneficial owner purchased more than 2.14 million shares as the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) completed its merger with Enovix, a battery maker. At a price of $14.00 apiece, the cost of those shares totaled just shy of $30.00 million. Note that the stock closed the week at $20.36 per share.

In the latest of a number of purchases stretching back to late May, a Cricut Inc CRCT 10% owner picked up over 364,200 more shares at prices ranging from $32.69 to $35.00 apiece. These purchases added up to over $12.32 million. Note that the stock was trading at less than $28 when that owner began buying the shares, and it has been as high as $47.36 since its initial public offering.

The purchase of more than 1.66 million Imara Inc IMRA shares by a director in a secondary offering priced at $6.00 per share totaled nearly $10.00 million. The Boston-based biopharmaceutical company raised $50 million to support development of its sickle cell treatment candidate. The stock sank to a 52-week low of $5.41 on Friday.

Hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb, a SentinelOne Inc S beneficial owner, indirectly acquired 200,000 more shares last week at up to $45 apiece. That cost him around $8.98 million. The founder of Third Point also bought more than $11 million worth of shares of the cybersecurity provider in the previous week and purchased shares in the IPO as well.

Two beneficial owners of Dirtt Environmental Solutions Ltd DRTT acquired more than 1.72 million of its shares altogether after the Canadian engineering firm named a new board chair. At prices ranging from $3.55 to $4.61 per share, the transactions added up to more than $7.52 million. Note that the stock hit a 52-week high of $4.68 per share last week.

Railcar maker Greenbrier Companies Inc GBX saw CEO Bill Furman step up to the buy window following the quarterly report and rosy outlook. He added 100,000 shares to his stake for $42.54 to $43.74 apiece. That totaled more than $4.30 million and lifted Furman's stake to more than 672,500 shares. The stock was last seen trading at $40.94, below his purchase price range.

See also: Benzinga's Bulls And Bears Of The Week: Apple, Tesla, Virgin Galactic, Wells Fargo And More

Ring Energy Inc REI had a beneficial owner return to add 1.01 million shares last week. That cost the owner almost $2.80 million, at share prices ranging from $2.63 to $2.86. It also lifted the owner's stake to more than 11.57 million shares, while about 99 million shares are outstanding. The stock ended the week trading at $2.49.

The CEO of Ivanhoe Capital Acquisition Corp IVAN, Robert Friedlander, bought shares of this SPAC last week. At a per-share price of $9.91 to $10.00, the 100,000 shares cost him almost $1.50 million. Ivanhoe Capital Acquisition intends to merge with SES, a lithium battery maker that has investments from General Motors and Applied Materials. Shares closed at $9.93 on Friday.

San Diego-based Reneo Pharmaceuticals Inc RHPM went public in April. Last week, a director bought more than 111,700 shares from a retiring executive for over $949,700, or around $8.50 apiece. That transaction required a waiver of the lock-up restrictions. The stock was last seen trading at $8.85 a share, well below the IPO price of $15.

Note that some smaller amount of insider buying at Conagra Brands Inc CAG, Hibbett Inc HIBB and SVB Financial Group SIVB was reported in the past week as well.