Notable Insider Buys In The Past Week: Immunomedics, Tenet Healthcare, Ulta Beauty

• Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors.
• Two health care companies saw notable insider buying this past week.
• A director at a specialty retailer added to his stake as well.

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 with markets near all-time highs.

Here are a some notable insider purchases reported in the past week:

Immunomedics

An Immunomedics, Inc. IMMU director and an executive each stepped up to the buy window this past week. Altogether, they picked up over 1.5 million shares of this cancer-focused biopharmaceutical company at $12.81 to $14.27 apiece last week. Those transactions totaled more than $20.25 million. Note that both of these insiders bought shares in June as well.

The company released positive trial data at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Annual Congress. The stock closed most recently at $14.37, after a 15% pop in the past week. Shares have traded as high as $24.99 in the past 52 weeks, and analysts currently anticipate the price will go to $25.73.

Ulta Beauty

Ulta Beauty Inc ULTA saw a director add another 70,000 or so shares last week via an affiliate of Chanel. At prices ranging from $245.17 to $250.00 apiece, that totaled almost $17.41 million. It also followed that director's purchase of more than 173,800 shares in the previous week.

Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of Ulta Beauty with a Neutral rating last week. The shares were trading at $250.60 apiece on last look, just above the top of the latest purchase price range. The stock has changed hands as high as $368.83 a share in the past year, but the analysts' consensus price target is just $291.71.

Tenet Healthcare

Glenview Capital Management, a beneficial owner of Tenet Healthcare Corp THC, purchased more than 261,500 shares of this hospital operator. At $20.07 to $20.57 a share, that cost the hedge fund over $5.36 million. It also brought its stake to more than 19.7 million shares.

Glenview Capital Management reportedly also established a stake in UnitedHealth recently. Tenet Healthcare closed Friday at $21.42 a share, so the above purchase appears to be well timed. The 52-week trading range is $16.61 to $31.64. The analysts' consensus price target was $26.95 on last look, and their consensus recommendation is to hold shares.

See also: PreMarket Prep Recap: End-Of-Quarter Price Action, Insider Buying Strategies

Note that insiders at Advanced Drainage Systems Inc WMS and Red Rock Resorts Inc RRR reportedly were buying some shares last week as well.