Notable Insider Buys: Energy Transfer, Enterprise Products Partners, FedEx

• Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors.
• Two energy companies saw insiders add to their stakes last week.
• A direct took advantage of a post-earnings slump in a transportation giant too.

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 with markets near all-time highs.

Enterprise Products Partners

An Enterprise Products Partners L.P. EPD director stepped up to the buy window again this past week. That director, via trust, picked up an additional 261,600 shares of this midstream energy services provider at $27.53 to $28.00 apiece. That totaled over $7.25 million. The same director bought more than 440,000 shares in the prior week.

Some traders still favor Enterprise Products Partners for its imperviousness to the economy and for its dividend. The stock closed most recently at $28.13 a share, just above the director's latest purchase prices. Shares are more than 8% higher since the beginning of December. Analysts currently anticipate the share price will go to $34.83.

FedEx

A director at FedEx Corporation FDX scooped up 10,000 shares of this Memphis-based business services provider last week. At $148.22 per share, that totaled more than $1.48 million. Note that this same director also purchased 10,000 shares right around Halloween.

FedEx posted disappointing quarterly results. The stock was last seen trading at $148.12 a share (still very near the director's purchase price), after retreating around 8% in the wake of the earnings report. The 52-week trading range is $137.78 to $199.32, and the analysts' consensus recommendation is to buy the shares.

See Also: Barron's Picks And Pans: Alibaba, Biogen, China Mobile, Peter Lynch Picks And More

Energy Transfer

Energy Transfer LP ET saw a director purchase 100,000 shares last week. At prices ranging from $12.78 to $12.80 a share, it cost that board member nearly $1.28 million. Note that CEO Warren Kelcy added almost 4 million shares to his stake back in November.

This Dallas-based natural gas transportation company expanded its network by completing a strategic merger earlier this month. Its shares were trading at $13.07 each on last look, so the share purchase appears to be well timed. The stock has traded as high as $15.98 in the past year, but the consensus analyst price target is $19.95.

Note that there also was some insider buying at retailer Childrens Place Inc PLCE, industrial Nordson Corporation NDSN and natural gas company ONEOK, Inc. OKE in the past week.

Keep up with all the latest breaking news and trading ideas by following Benzinga on Twitter.