American Eagle Outfitters, Seattle Genetics And Others That Insiders Have Been Buying

• Insiders have been taking advantage of recent volatility to scoop up shares.
• CEOs at American Eagle Outfitters, Sears Holdings and Hess have been among the notable buyers.
• Strong insider buying is often taken as a positive sign for investors.

Tuesday's sell-off was another reminder that the recent volatility hasn't gone anywhere just yet. When the bargain hunters come out in force remains to be seen. However,it is clear is that insiders and beneficial owners are taking advantage of the turmoil. 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. The third-quarter earnings reporting season has yet to begin, closing windows for many insiders, so it should be no surprise that executives, directors and others are leaping at newfound bargains.

American Eagle Outfitters

Executive chairman and interim CEO Jay Schottenstein purchased 500,000 American Eagle Outfitters AEO shares last week. At $15.74 per share, that cost him around $7.87 million. The retailer posted better-than-expected results for its most recent quarter. Its market capitalization is about $3.2 billion and the dividend yield is about 3.1 percent. Shares dropped sharply in mid-August along with much of the market, and have yet to recover. The stock closed Tuesday at $16.28, so the buyer is already ahead. See also: Now We Know Exactly How Much Tesla Stock Elon Musk Bought

Hess

The CEO and one director together recently bought about $7.90 million worth of Hess Corp. HESS, or 150,900 shares at between $52.27 and $54.55 apiece. The government of the U.S. Virgin Islands has sued Hess over an abandoned refinery. This global exploration and production company has a market cap of about $14.7 billion and a dividend yield near 1.91 percent. Shares have been on the decline since early May and ended Tuesday's trading session at $51.15, below the purchase prices.

McGraw Hill Financial

Following the completion of the SNL Financial acquisition, the newly appointed president of the merged unit bought 16,500 shares of the parent company in two batches. Those shares ranged in price from $92.85 to $94.78, and the transactions totaled more than $1.55 million. The market cap of McGraw Hill Financial Inc MHFI is around $24.8 billion, and the dividend yield is about 1.4 percent. The share price ended most recently at $91.24, below the president's purchase price.

Opko Health

The chairman continues to buy batches of shares periodically, as he has done for more than a year. He picked up more than 127,000 Opko Health Inc. OPK shares recently at prices between $10.02 and $10.41. That cost him more than $973,000. Jim Cramer recently suggested shares were oversold. This Miami-based health care company has a market cap near $5.3 billion. Note that short interest is more than 16 percent of the float. Shares ended trading on Tuesday at $9.75, so no quick gains were seen here either.

Sears

This struggling retailer made some high-profile hires recently, and CEO Eddie Lampert picked up a more than 213,000 Sears Holdings Corp SHLD shares mid-month at between $25.07 and $25.17 apiece. The total for those transactions came to more than $5.36 million. This Illinois-based retailer has a market cap near $2.7 billion. Shares fared relatively well during the August sell-off and are up about 4 percent from a year ago. The stock ended trading on Friday at $25.59, so it looks like a well-timed buy. See also: Dollar General, Freeport-McMoRan And Others That Insiders Have Been Buying

Seattle Genetics

A director recently has picked up a huge 5.15 million shares of Seattle Genetics, Inc. SGEN. At prices ranging from $41.43 to $48.28 per share, the total came to around $219.60 million. Beneficial owner Baker Brothers increased its stake recently as well. This cancer-focused biotechnology company has a market cap near $6.1 billion. The long-term EPS growth forecast is more than 17 percent. Shares recovered from the August sell-off around the time of these buys, but they ended trading on Tuesday at $44.66. 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.