Insider Buys Of The Week: BlackRock, Dish Network, Walgreens

  • Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors.
  • A CEO added to his stake last week after shares sank to a low.
  • An insider bought some shares on the same day the CEO was selling.

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 with markets near all-time highs.

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

Walgreens

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc WBA saw CEO Stefano Pessina add to his stake early last week. At $63.92 apiece, the more than 1.69 million shares reportedly acquired cost the company's single largest shareholder about $108.5 million. Note that another executive bought 1.70 million shares at about the same time.

Walgreens shares sank to a 52-week low of $59.07 at the end of June, on fears that Amazon's online pharmacy acquisition would shake up the industry. However, the stock ended last week at $64.98, above Pessina's purchase price. It has traded as high as $83.89 in the past year, but the Wall Street consensus price target was last seen at $71.32.

BlackRock

A BlackRock, Inc. BLK director stepped up to the buy window again this past week. The 1,000 shares of this New York-based investment manager acquired, at a per-share price ranging from $507.885 to $508.11, cost him $507,983. Note that on the same day, CEO Larry Fink sold 19,800 shares.

BlackRock posted better-than-expected earnings, raised its dividend and expressed interest in bitcoin last week. Its shares ended the week trading at $502.87, about where it began and less than the purchase range mentioned above. The stock has changed hands between $408.62 and $594.52 in the past year, and the analyst's mean price target is $589.25.

See Also: Wealth And Philanthropy: The World's 10 Richest Aren't The World's 10 Most Generous

Dish Network

A DISH Network Corp DISH executive vice president bought 5,000 shares of this pay-TV provider early last week. At $32.99 a share, the transaction totaled $164,950. The executive made two similar purchases earlier this month, pursuant to a 10b5-1 trading plan, and the stake was last reported to be up to more than 1.16 million shares.

The Federal Communications Commission has been asking questions about Dish's network build-out plan. Shares pulled back around 7 percent in the past week and closed Friday at $30.91 apiece. The share price has been as high as $66.50 in the past year, but the consensus price target is just $54.52.

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
Comments
Loading...
Posted In: CryptocurrencyNewsInsider TradesMarketsDish NetworkStefano PessinaWalgreens
Benzinga simplifies the market for smarter investing

Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.

Join Now: Free!