Microsoft, Bank Of New York And Others Insiders Have Been Buying

Secondary offerings by small biotech companies have brought out the insider buyers recently, as did the sell-off following Microsoft's disappointing quarterly report. Insiders may sell shares for any number of reasons, but conventional wisdom says that they really only buy shares of a company for one reason -- they believe the stock price will rise and they want to profit from it. Pullbacks and sell-offs can provide a perfect opportunity for investors who have faith in a company to snap up shares.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

The CEO and one director recently picked up a total of 11,000 Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ALNY shares at $95.00, while 10 percent owner Sanofi also bought more than 843,000 more. The total price was more than $80.8 million. Alnylam raised $450 million in a secondary offering of shares. This Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biopharmaceutical company now has a market capitalization of more than $7 billion and a long-term earnings per share (EPS) growth forecast of about 46 percent. Shares ended the week at $93.83 and are down more than 3 percent since the beginning of the year. 5 Biotech Secondaries Traders Are Watching

Bank of New York Mellon

One director last week purchased 273,000 shares of Bank of New York Mellon Corp BK. At $36.63 apiece, that came to nearly $10 million and brought his stake to more than 29 million shares. Profits rose sharply in the fourth quarter but fell short of the consensus forecast. This $40 billion market cap financial services company has a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio less than the industry average, and its operating margin is greater than the industry average. Shares ended the trading session Friday at $36.00, after retreating more than 11 percent year to date.

Five Prime Therapeutics

One director bought more than 35,000 shares of this San Francisco area biotechnology company in January. At a prices ranging from $25.76 to $27.03 each, the total came to more than $938,000. Also Point72 Asset Management acquired an almost 6 percent stake in Five Prime, which earlier in the month raised $84.3 million in a secondary offering. Five Prime Therapeutics Inc's FPRX market cap is around $560 million. Note that the consensus forecast calls for a deeper net loss this year than last. Shares closed Friday at $26.31, up about 119 percent from six months ago but less than 3 percent lower year to date.

Intrexon

The chief executive officer last week obtained more than 550,000 shares of Intrexon Corp XON for around $15.0 million. The per-share price was $27.00. Intrexon also had a public offering of stock, and it said it planned to acquire the remaining stake in Exemplar Genetics. The market cap of this West Palm Beach, Florida-based biotech company now is less than $4 billion. It is expected to post net losses for both the just completed year and the current year. The share price at Friday's close was at $28.71, after hitting a multiyear high of $40.49 earlier in the month.

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation MSFT shares dropped about 14 percent following a disappointing earnings report, and one director took advantage of the situation to pick up more than 23,000 shares at $42.34 apiece. That was worth just shy of a million dollars. The market cap of this tech giant is more than $331 billion. Its P/E ratio is less than the industry average and the return on equity is more than 24 percent. With shares at $40.40 at week's end, perhaps the buy was premature. The stock is down about 13 percent year to date. Is Twitter Worried About An Activist Shareholder Getting In?

Versartis

Last week, three directors and a 10 percent owner took advantage of a secondary offering and between them picked up more than 350,000 shares of Versartis Inc VSAR at a price of $17.25 apiece. That was worth around $6 million. This Redwood City, California-based biopharmaceutical company has a market cap near $410 million. Note that the return on equity is in the red, and short interest is almost 10 percent of the float. Shares ended the trading session Friday at $17.73. The stock is down about 21 percent year to date. At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the mentioned equities. Keep up with all the latest breaking news and trading ideas by following Benzinga on Twitter.