Notable Insider Buys In The Past Week: GM, Oracle And More

Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors.
More insiders took advantage of fallen share prices last week.
Insiders at some real estate investment trusts were buying.

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 during periods of uncertainty.

Insiders continued to take advantage of fallen share prices last week. Here are some of the most noteworthy insider purchases reported in the past week.

Westlake Chemical Corporation WLK had a 10% owner pick up 420,000 shares of this Houston-based company for $34.30 to $43.03 each. That totaled over $16.54 million. That beneficial owner is the general partner of Westlake's parent company.

President Edward Shoen and a beneficial owner of AMERCO UHAL together picked up 15,600 shares of Reno, Nevada-based company. At $273.41 per share, that came to almost $3.92 million. They and other insiders were buying shares throughout February and March.

A beneficial owner of Cheniere Energy Partners LP CQP bought almost 156,800 shares of this Houston-based company at between $21.49 and $22.00 apiece. That totaled more than $3.42 million.

A director at real estate investment trust Equity Commonwealth EQC shelled out between $28.20 to $29.00 per share via trust for 100,000 shares. That totaled more than $2.88 million.

A director added 30,000 Oracle Corporation ORCL shares to his stake in the same week another director sold 90,000 of them. At prices of $45.23 to $48.66, the shares added cost more than $1.42 million. That director also purchased some Chevron shares recently.

Los Angeles-based REIT Hudson Pacific Properties Inc HPP saw a director return to the buy window. At prices ranging from $16.67 to $16.74, the 75,500 shares that director purchased added up to nearly $1.26 million. That same director bought 12,000 shares earlier in the month.

After CEO Eric Mendelsohn and a director acquired National Health Investors Inc NHI shares in previous weeks, another director joined them last week. He paid $36.16 apiece for 27,000 shares of this REIT. That cost this director more than $976,300.

A HD Supply Holdings Inc HDS director indirectly purchased over 41,100 shares of this industrial distributor at about $27.956 apiece. That totaled around $970.000. This same director bought more than 272,900 shares the prior week.

The AFLAC Incorporated AFL president and chief operating officer, John Crawford, acquired some shares of this supplemental insurer early last week. At about $26.29 apiece, the 25,000 shares added up to more than $657,300.

And an executive at General Motors Company GM picked 22,400 the automaker's shares. At $22.97 per share, that totaled more than $514,500. The transaction was pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

In addition, note that there was some recent insider buying at Avis Budget Group Inc. CAR, Marathon Oil Corporation MRO, Nike Inc NIKE and Williams-Sonoma, Inc. WSM.