Notable Insider Buys Last Week: Enterprise Products Partners, Kellogg And More

Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors.

Some insiders added to their staks following earnings reports.

One made a return trip to the buy window this past week.

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. So insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors, particularly during periods of uncertainty.

The following are a few of significant insider purchases reported last week. Also note that with earnings season winding down, buy windows for many insiders are open again.

Enterprise Products Partners

An Enterprise Products Partners L.P. EPD director returned to purchase 250,000 more shares of this midstream energy services provider via trust last week. At $25.40 to $26.75 per share, the purchase totaled around $6.5 million. The director also bought 400,000 shares in the prior week.

The Houston-based company posted disappointing quarterly results at the end of January. The stock is up about 2% so far this month, but is still more than 6% lower year-to-date. Analysts still recommend buying the shares, and the consensus target price suggests 30% or so upside from the most recent close.

Kellogg

Kellogg Company K CEO Steve Cahillane, added to his stake. He picked up more than 16,800 shares of this packaged foods company at between $65.18 and $65.41 each. That cost him a little less than $1.1 million and brought his holdings to over 50,500 shares.

This Battle Creek, Michigan company posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter results but also disappointing guidance. The share price is more than $2 higher than the top of the above purchase price range, but it is also greater than the consensus target price. The consensus recommendation is to hold shares.

See also: Jeff Bezos Sells $1.8B Worth Of Amazon Stock

Spectrum Brands

Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc SPB CEO David Maura purchased more than 16,700 shares last week. The chief financial officer also bought over 8,300 shares. At $59.38 to $60.37 per share, that cost them nearly $1.5 million altogether. Maura's stake was listed as more than 387,800 shares.

Its many brands include Black & Decker, Black Flag, IAMS and Kwikset, and this company also recently posted disappointing results. Shares have retreated more than 2% since then and were last seen trading near the top of the above purchase price. Analysts on average recommend buying shares.

In addition, there was some insider purchasing last week at Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. CFR, Macerich Co MAC and NGL Energy Partners LP NGL.

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

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