Last Week's Notable Insider Buys: Avis, Biglari And More

• Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors when markets face uncertainty.
• This past week, some insiders were adding to their stakes in the wake of earnings reports.
• A few biopharmaceutical companies saw insiders acquiring some shares as well.

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 when there is uncertainty in the markets, as there was before and after the elections and as the pandemic worsens.

Though buy windows remain closed for some insiders during earnings-reporting season, plenty of others continued to purchase shares despite market volatility and economic uncertainty. Here are some of the most noteworthy insider purchases reported in the past week.

Four Organogenesis Holdings Inc ORGO directors and two beneficial owners altogether purchased about 6.14 million shares at $3.25 and $5.00 apiece last week. That totaled around $20.00 million. Note that these purchases included a common public share offering at $3.25 apiece.

Multiplan Corp MPLN, a services provider to the health care industry, saw a director and an officer pick up less than 1.43 million shares altogether. At prices ranging from $6.88 to $7.60 per share, that totaled more than $10.10 million. That same director also bought 741,000 shares in the prior week.

The GreenSky GSKY CEO and chair, David Zalik, another director and an executive altogether bought more than 2.23 million shares recently of this Atlanta-based tech company. At $3.40 to $4.10 per share, these transactions totaled less than $7.78 million. 

Two directors at Keros Therapeutics Inc KROS each indirectly added nearly 60,000 shares of this clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company to their stakes. At a public offering price of $50.00 per share, that cost them $6.00 million altogether. Each stake has been approaching 2.29 million shares.

An Avis Budget Group Inc. CAR beneficial owner returned to the buy window last week. Almost 105,000 shares were scooped up at between $34.77 and $35.43 apiece, which cost that owner more than $3.68 million. That insider also bought almost 150,000 shares during the previous week.

A pair of StarTek, Inc. SRT directors indirectly bought more than 413,600 shares altogether last week. At $7.20 per share, that cost them about $2.90 million. These purchases came in the wake of the release of this outsourcing company's third-quarter financial results.

Biglari Holdings Inc BH CEO Sardar Biglari paid between $100.00 and $106.00 each for over 21,300 shares last week. Another director bought 200 shares of this San Antonio-based conglomerate. Altogether, that cost them more than $2.31 million. Note that Biglari also bought more than 15,700 shares in the prior week.

See also: Q3 13F Roundup: How Buffett, Einhorn, Ackman And Others Adjusted Their Portfolios

Waitr Holdings Inc WTRH saw a director purchase more than 266,100 shares early in the week. At a per-share price of $2.75, that cost him more than $731,800. This Louisiana-based food delivery company posted its third-quarter results earlier this month.

A director at cancer-focused biopharmaceutical company G1 Therapeutics Inc GTHX added 50,000 shares to his stake. At a $13.50 share price, that cost the director some $675,000. Note that another director purchased 8,000 shares for less than $13 apiece earlier this month.

And Reynolds Consumer Products Inc REYN CEO Lance Mitchell, the chief financial officer and a director acquired a combined 29,100 shares of this Lake Forest, Illinois-based company last week. At $29.47 to $29.95 per share, these transactions totaled nearly $866,900.

Note that there also was some smaller amount of insider buying at Carrols Restaurant Group Inc TAST, Cincinnati Financial Corporation CINF, National Health Investors Inc NHI and Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. SBH reported last week.

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

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