Insider buys can be a telltale sign of a turnaround, as these investments give you a window into where management stands with a company. Studies have shown that insider buys often lead to the stock performing well. It’s easy to understand why, as no one wants to throw money at a sinking ship, even if the ship is their own.
No one knows the cadence of new orders, the stickiness of customers, or the timing of a regulatory approval better than the people who show up to the office every day. If they are choosing salary and stock options, that is routine. When they write a personal check for additional shares, it’s worth looking deeper.
The following three stocks have seen an unusual amount of insider buying, whether that be volume or the raw amount of stocks being bought.
Summit Therapeutics (SMMT)
Summit Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SMMT) has seen a slew of insider buying recently, with the recent one from Director Xia Yu. She purchased approximately $10 million worth of common stock on October 21, filing about the purchase on October 23. This was done at an average price of $18.74 per share, so she’s already in the green.
CEO Duggan Robert bought at that exact same average price on the same day. He bought $500,000 worth of SMMT stock. Co-CEO Maky Zanganeh also bought $500k worth of the stock on the same day and at the same price.
Both co-CEOs made two very interesting buys in September, where they each bought $5.89 million worth of SMMT stock at an average price of $17.68.
SMMT stock trades at $19.26 as of this writing.
The bull case here centers on its lead drug candidate, ivonescimab. It has shown impressive clinical results in treating advanced lung cancer, with potential for multi-billion dollar peak sales and upcoming regulatory submissions. Chairman Robert W. Duggan said during the Q3 earnings call, “Lung cancer is the number one killer. It’s not going to be that way for long”.
Analysts estimate that ivonescimab could achieve peak sales of up to $53 billion.
Viridian Therapeutics (VRDN)
Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN) has seen insider buys from an insider institution called Fairmount Funds Management LLC. On October 23, it bought $10 million worth of stock at an average price of $22.
Wedbush recently raised its price target on the stock to $42.
There haven’t been any other special buys recently, but the scale of this new buy should raise some eyebrows, considering the company has announced updates on clinical trials.
The bull case for Viridian Therapeutics sits on its potential to dominate the thyroid eye disease (TED) market with two differentiated late-stage drug candidates that could offer noteworthy advantages over the current standard of care.
Veligrotug had best-in-class potential across both pivotal Phase 3 trials, THRIVE for active TED and THRIVE-2 for chronic TED. It met all primary and secondary endpoints in both studies. As for VRDN-003, data is expected in the first half of 2026, with a Biologics License Application (BLA) submission planned by year-end 2026.
Vivani Medical (VANI)
Charman of the company, Gregg Williams, has been relentlessly buying Vivani Medical (NASDAQ:VANI) this year. The stock is down over 96% from prices back in 2021, but is showing signs of stabilization as VANI stock has managed to return 38.3% in year-to-date gains.
Williams bought $6 million worth of VANI stock on Monday, October 27, at an average price of $1.62. His last buy was on October 15, when he bought almost $2 million worth of VANI stock. On September 15, he bought $2.4 million worth of VANI stock.
These buys have panned out very well and are worth keeping an eye on since Vivani Medical’s entire market cap is just $98.35 million.
He likely expects the company’s NanoPortal drug implant technology to pay off and transform obesity treatment. Its lead candidate is NPM-139. This is a semaglutide implant (the active ingredient in Wegovy) that showed approximately 20% weight loss maintained for over six months with a single administration in preclinical studies.
The company aims to provide Wegovy-level efficacy with once or twice-yearly dosing, compared to the current weekly injections. Phase 1 is expected to begin in 2026.
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks