Clear Channel Outdoor, Oasis Petroleum And Other Insiders Have Been Buying

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The parent of the Steak 'n Shake restaurant chain and one of the world's largest outdoor advertising companies is among those that have seen significant insider buying recently, even as the markets struggle to overcome recent weakness and crude oil prices continue to fall.

Insiders may sell shares for any number of reasons, but conventional wisdom says that insiders buy shares of a company for one reason -- they believe the stock price will rise and they want to profit from it. Pullbacks and sell-offs can provide a perfect opportunity for investors who have faith in a company to snap up shares.

Biglari Holdings

So far in January, CEO and chairman Sardar Biglari has picked up a total of more than 8,300 Biglari Holdings Inc BH shares at prices ranging from $403.25 to $408.69, for a total price of more than $3.3 million. That followed the purchase of nearly 16,700 shares in December and brought his total stake to more than 328,700 shares.

This restaurant chain operator has a market capitalization near $825 million and a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio that is lower than the industry average. The share price ended the first full week of January at $400.00.

Related Link: Blue Earth Surges 24% Following Insider Buying

Clear Channel Outdoor

Biglari's parent company iHeartMedia Inc IHRT obtained two million shares of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. CCO for around $20.4 million last week. The per-share price was $10.20, and the purchase followed a nearly 8 percent pullback in the share price early in the week.

The market cap of this outdoor advertising company is around $3.5 billion. The return on equity is more than 26 percent, but the long-term EPS growth forecast is only about 3 percent. The share price at Friday's close was at $9.85, down about 7 percent year-to-date and in the same ballpark as a year ago.

Ladenburg Thalmann

Two directors have bought a total of 115,000 shares of Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services LTS in the past two weeks, at between $3.89 and $4.09 apiece. That was worth almost $467,000. In that time the company completed the acquisition of an independent investment advisor.

The market cap is more than $720 million. Its long-term EPS growth forecast is about 15 percent, but the return on equity is less than 4 percent. At $3.88 (at time of writing), the share price is less than 2 percent lower than at the beginning of the year but still above the 50-day moving average.

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Oasis Petroleum

Hedge fund manager and 10 percent owner SPO Advisory has picked up more than 2 million Oasis Petroleum Inc. OAS shares since the beginning of January. At prices between $14.97 and $15.14 a piece, that came to more than $32.5 million. Shares have retreated as the price of oil has declined.

This independent exploration and production company has a market cap of about $1.5 billion. The long-term EPS growth forecast is about 30 percent, but short interest is about 12 percent of the float. Shares ended the trading session Friday at $15.33, up about 21 percent from the 52-week low a month ago.

Opko Health

The chairman continues to buy batches of shares periodically, as he has done for well more than a year. He picked up more than 76,000 Opko Health Inc. OPK shares so far this month at an average price of about $9.96. That cost him almost $760,000. His total stake is around 144.79 million shares.

This healthcare company has a market cap of more than $4 billion. Note that the return on equity is in the red and short interest is about 20 percent of the float. Shares ended the trading session Friday at $10.10, after hitting a 52-week high of $10.25 earlier in the week.

Related Link: Here's What Insiders Have Been Buying Recently

Synageva BioPharma

Two directors each bought one million shares of this biopharmaceutical company last week. At a price of $94.19 each, the total came to more than $188 million. The buys followed the announcement of a three million share common stock offering.

Synageva BioPharma Corp's GEVA market cap is less than $4 billion. Note that the return on equity is in the red and short interest is almost 15 percent of the float. Shares closed Friday at $108.50, up about 17 percent year-to-date, still about 9 percent shy of the 52-week high from February 2014.

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

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Posted In: Long IdeasInsider TradesTrading IdeasSardar BiglariSPO AdvisorySteak 'n Shake
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