Insiders may sell shares for any number of reasons, but conventional wisdom says that insiders really only buy for one reason -- they believe the stock price will rise and they want to profit from it.
Pullbacks and sell-offs provide a perfect opportunity for investors who have faith in a company — insiders or retail — to snap up shares.
American Eagle Outfitters
In the past two weeks, the interim CEO picked up a total of about 500,000 American Eagle Outfitters shares at prices ranging from $14.08 to $14.75 apiece, for a total price of more than $7.2 million. The company declared its 41st consecutive quarterly dividend in early September.The retailer has a market capitalization of more than $2.8 billion and a dividend yield near 4.8 percent. The return on equity is only about four percent, and short interest is more than 15 percent of the total float.
Shares have risen about nine percent in the past week and closed Friday at $14.67.
Related Link: Continental Resources Announces Resignation Of President And COO
Continental Resources
Last week the CEO bought almost 72,000 shares of Continental Resources at a price of $67.45, for a total of more than $4.85 million. This transaction followed an announcement that the independent oil and gas company had appointed a new president and chief operating officer.The market cap of this Oklahoma City-based company is around $25.2 billion. Its operating margin is greater than the industry average, but short interest is about 18 percent of the float. The buy was timely, as shares ended the week at $68.32. However, they traded at more than $80 early in the month.
Restoration Hardware
The CEO recently added nearly 26,000 shares of Restoration Hardware to his total of more than 2.3 million. At $76.82 per share, the transaction totaled just shy of $2 million. In September, the specialty retailer fell short of earnings estimates and cut its sales forecast.The market cap of this home furnishings purveyor is near $3.2 billion. The long-term earnings per share (EPS) growth forecast is almost 30 percent, but short interest is about 26 percent of the float. The share price closed Friday at $80.31. The stock has outperformed the broader markets over the past six months.
Related Link: Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc. Misses Q2, Cuts Rev Outlook
Fiserv Inc FISV
Fiserv's chief operating officer acquired $655,000 worth of shares last week. That was 10,000 shares at $65.50 apiece. Possibly related, the company announced expansion of its foreign currency exchange service earlier in the month.Fiserv has a market cap of about $16 billion and a return on equity of more than 20 percent. Its operating margin is greater than the industry average.
Shares were trading at a multiyear high in the wake of this transaction, but they pulled back and finished last week at $64.35.
Opko Health Inc. OPK
The chairman continues to buy batches of shares periodically, as he has done for more than a year. He picked up more than 143,000 Opko Health shares in the past week at an average price of about $8.35, for a total of more than $1.1 million. His total stake is around 143.2 million shares.This Miami-based health care company has a market cap of about $3.7 billion. Note that its return on equity is in the red, and short interest is more than 21 percent of its float. Shares are down more than three percent since the beginning of the month, and are less than three percent higher year to date.
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. ULTA
The CEO, another executive and a director recently bought a combined 22,700 shares of Ulta Salon at prices of up to $120.17 apiece, a $2.7 million in all. Shares surged following a recent earnings beat and raised guidance.The market cap of this specialty retailer is near $7.6 billion. Its long-term EPS growth forecast is about 19 percent, and its return on equity is a healthy 22 percent. At $118.65, the share price is almost 21 percent higher than a month ago, and up more than 23 percent since the beginning of the year.
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.
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