If there was ever a week investors were happy to see end, it was this past week. The market was hammered back to the lows printed in January, and there seemed to be a smell of desperation in the air. Treasury yields plummeted to multiyear lows and gold traded over $1,200 an ounce as worried investors sought safety. One very positive sign was insiders, and 10% owners made gigantic buys this past week, taking advantage of very weak stock prices to initiate or add to positions.
We cover insider buying every week at 24/7 Wall St., and we like to remind readers that while insider buying is usually a very positive sign, it is not in of itself a reason to run out and buy a stock. Sometimes insiders and 10% owners have stock purchase plans set up at intervals to add to their holdings. That aside, it still remains a positive indicator.
Here are some of the companies that reported insider buying this past week.
AutoNation Inc. (NYSE: AN) saw Cascade Investment, the investment company of billionaire and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, making huge purchases of the stock. Our data showed a total of four separate buys over this past week, adding a total of 2,212,496 shares at prices that ranged from $43.88 to $46.33 per share. The total for these gigantic purchases came to a mind-numbing $100,700,000 and makes Cascade the largest individual shareholder. AutoNation, through its subsidiaries, provides new and used automotive and spare parts retail services in the United States. Shares were buoyed during a very bad week on the news of Cascade purchases, and they traded on Friday’s close at $48.16. So it appears to be a well-timed set of buys.
Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) had a big time buyer on the desk again this past week. Just like every week this year so far, the share count is huge. Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway scooped up 486,804 shares at prices between $74.39 and $78.59 apiece. That totaled some $37 million. Phillips 66 operates as an energy manufacturing and logistics company. The stock closed on Friday at $75.20.
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