Notable Insider Buys This Past Week: Annaly Capital, MGM and More

• Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors.
• Post-earnings sell-offs brought out insider buyers this past week
• Some serial acquirers also stepped up to the buy window again as well.

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.

MGM Resorts

MGM Resorts International MGM saw a director last week acquire 80,000 shares of this Las Vegas-based hospitality and entertainment company. At share prices ranging from $25.07 to $25.69, the transaction totaled more than $20.32 million. Note that four other directors recently exercised options on less than 5,000 shares each.

Disappointing earnings results and the increasing trade war threats have been a drag on MGM shares lately. Yet, the stock rose about 4 percent in the past week, better than the fractional gain of the S&P 500, and shares closed most recently at $25.63, near the top of the director's purchase price range. Note that shares have traded as high as $32.91 in the past 52 weeks, and the analysts' consensus price target is $33.56.

Kinder Morgan

The Kinder Morgan Inc KMI executive chair of the board, Richard Kinder, has picked up 200,000 additional shares of this Houston-based energy infrastructure giant. At prices of $19.42 to $19.50 per share, last week's transaction totaled more than $3.89 million. Note that Kinder's buying spree stretches back to the beginning of the year.

After a strategic review, Kinder Morgan says it has decided not to sell off subsidiary Kinder Morgan Canada. The stock has gained about 28 percent since the beginning of the year and closed most recently at $19.70. That is 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 $21.63.

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Annaly Capital Management

Early last week, the Annaly Capital Management NLY CEO and President, Kevin Keyes, purchased 300,000 shares of this asset manager and real estate investment trust. At prices of about $9.62 per share, that cost him more than $2.88 million. It also brought his stake to more than 1.28 million shares.

The quarterly numbers posted at the beginning of this month have had shares in retreat since then. The stock ended the past week at $9.62 per share, the same as the purchase price noted above, but that is up a bit from the $9.52 low hit last week. While the consensus target was last seen at $10.20, the stock has traded as high as $10.78 in the past 52 weeks.

Opko Health

Opko Health Inc. OPK Chair and CEO Phillip Frost is known as a frequent buyer of batches of shares. This past week, that was another 1.19 million or so shares, via a trust. Meanwhile, the chief financial officer and other insiders also picked up more than 33,000 shares altogether. At prices between $2.01 and $2.23 apiece, these transactions totaled almost $2.55 million, and Frost's stake was listed as now more than 27.07 million shares.

This medical test and medication company posted disappointing quarterly results last week. Shares were trading at $2.12 a share on last look, after pulling back about 11 percent for the week. The stock has changed hands as high as $6.40 a share in the past year. However, the six analysts polled have a consensus price target of only $5.00.