Insider Buys Of The Week: Abeona Therapeutics, Kinder Morgan, Landec

• Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors.
• An executive board chair resumed is share buying this past week.
• Other insiders were purchasing shares in the wake of earnings reports.

Conventional wisdom says that insiders and 10 percent 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 during periods of uncertainty.

Here's a look at a few notable insider purchases reported in the past week.

Kinder Morgan

The Kinder Morgan Inc KMI executive chair of the board, Richard Kinder, picked up 175,200 additional shares of this Houston-based energy infrastructure giant. At prices that ranged from $19.71 to $19.75 a share, last week's transactions totaled more than $3.45 million. These purchases were pursuant to a 10b5-1 trading plan.

Kinder Morgan is expected to report its latest quarterly results this week. The stock has gained around 13 percent year to date and closed most recently at $19.82, above Kinder's latest purchase price range. Shares have traded between $14.62 and $20.44 in the past 52 weeks, but analysts anticipate the price will go to $21.53.

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Abeona Therapeutics

This past week, two Abeona Therapeutics Inc ABEO directors picked up a total of 74,000 shares of this biopharmaceutical company. At prices that ranged from $7.54 to $7.91 per share, that cost those directors more than $577,000, and it brought each of their stakes to 70,000 or more shares.

The company posted mixed results back in March and more recently received an FDA Fast Track designation for one of its gene therapies. The stock ended the week at $7.69 per share, within the purchase price range noted above. While the consensus target was last seen at $23.63, the stock has traded only as high as $22.00 in the past 52 weeks.

Landec

A Landec Corporation LNDC director acquired 60,000 shares of this Santa Clara-based health and wellness products maker. At $10.19 to $10.48 per share, last week's transactions totaled almost $620,000. Note that this director also bought more than $630,000 worth of the stock earlier this year.

Landec saw an analyst downgrade this past week, in the wake of mixed quarterly results. Shares dropped sharply after the report and hit a 52-week low of $9.99 this past week. The stock closed most recently at $10.41. Shares have traded as high as $15.60 in the past 52 weeks, and the mean price target is $15.00.