In this article, we will take a detailed look at the 11 Stocks Insiders are Buying Now. For a quick overview of such stocks, read our article 5 Stocks Insiders are Buying Now.
Despite a hotter-than-expected CPI report, the stock market remained in the green on March 12, which is a good sign according to many analysts as investors begin to brush aside recession warnings that kept haunting them for most part of 2023. Tom Lee, Fundstrat Global Advisors managing partner and head of research, while talking to CNBC on March 12, said that stocks rising despite a hot CPI report is “always” a “good sign.” When asked about the latest comments of JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon where he said he sees a “little bit” of a bubble in equity markets, Lee said that most of the growth in the S&P 500 is coming from major tech companies like Nvidia which are seeing huge demand. Lee said massive growth of mega-cap stocks could “feel like a bubble” but that’s really the market “recognizing” the mega trends.
Investors Brush Aside CPI Worries
The stock market isn’t shrugging off hotter-than-expected inflation prints or recessions warnings without a reason. Experts like Jamie Dimon and Ray Dalio, among many others, have been issuing ominous warnings about the economy for several months now. In 2022 Jamie Dimon said there was a “hurricane” headed towards the US economy and recommended investors to “brace” themselves. Billionaire Ray Dalio on his LinkedIn posts has been consistently cautioning investors about debt crisis and an expected “perform storm.” Several economists were taking recession as a certainty; they were just debating how severe would it be. But near the end of 2023, a plethora of market analysts and pundits began revising their S&P 500 targets for 2024 and started issuing bullish reports for 2024 outlook. According to Wall Street Journal, Ray Dalio admitted that he got it wrong.
“I got it wrong because, ordinarily, when you raise interest rates it curtails private-sector demand and asset prices and slows things down, but that didn’t happen. There was a historic transfer of wealth: The balance sheets of the private sector improved a lot and the balance sheet of the government deteriorated a lot,” Dalio said according to the WSJ report.
In this backdrop, it’s important to keep an eye out for insider activity and see what stocks corporate insiders are amassing these days.
Stocks Insiders are Buying Now
Photo by Chris Liverani on Unsplash Methodology
For this article we used Insider Monkey's stock screener to find out the stocks that have seen heavy insider buying activity over the past seven days through March 12. From these companies we picked 11 stocks that saw the biggest insider purchases in terms of dollar value. Some top names in the list include Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (NASDAQ:KDP), Jazz Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ:JAZZ) and EchoStar Corp (NASDAQ:SATS). With each stock we have mentioned the number of hedge fund investors where applicable. Why? Hedge funds’ top 10 consensus stock picks outperformed the S&P 500 Index by more than 140 percentage points over the last 10 years (see the details here).
Live entertainment and media company Sphere Entertainment Co. (NYSE:SPHR) recently saw insider buying activity as of March 4. Sphere Entertainment Co.'s (NYSE:SPHR) CEO James L. Dolan bought 110,156 shares of Sphere Entertainment Co. (NYSE:SPHR) at $46.88 per share. Since the date of this insider transaction the stock has gained about 2.6% as of March 10.
“In addition, two long-held investments, GTX and MSGE/SPHR, had positive news during the year and were significant contributors to our overall gains. For MSGE/SPHR, the split of the two businesses proved to be a significant catalyst, with the combined company rallying ~75% last year. After the spin in the spring, I rotated the bulk of our investment from MSGE to Sphere Entertainment Co. (NYSE:SPHR), as I thought MSGE was trading at a reasonable valuation while SPHR remained deeply discounted. Since then, SPHR has completed construction of the Las Vegas Sphere, which opened to broadly positive reviews, and SPHR has appreciated further. However, we have substantially reduced our investment in SPHR. I was comfortable owning MSGE in significant size due to its unlevered ownership of the Madison Square Garden arena, an iconic venue with stable cash flows and modest growth. After the split, SPHR has no ownership of the arena and is instead a riskier growth company, with significant upside potential but also higher odds of a miss. As a result, we retain a smaller position in SPHR. Looking forward, I remain bullish on the Las Vegas Sphere and believe additional sphere developments could be a significant catalyst, offset somewhat by my worries regarding refinancing the MSGN loan while SPHR is still bearing a great number of front-end loaded growth expenses.”
Healthcare company Marpai Inc (NASDAQ:MRAI) ranks 10th in our list of the stocks with the biggest insider purchases recently. On March 7 Marpai Inc's (NASDAQ:MRAI) CEO Damien Lamendola snapped up 910,000 shares of Marpai Inc (NASDAQ:MRAI). The stock closed trading at $1.65 that day. Since then through the close of trading on March 10 the stock has gained about 6%.
Like MRAI, Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (NASDAQ:KDP), Jazz Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ:JAZZ) and EchoStar Corp (NASDAQ:SATS) are also seeing insider buying activity.
Drug creation company Absci Corp (NASDAQ:ABSI) ranks ninth in our list of the stocks with the biggest insider purchases recently. Redmile Group, LLC, which has a director status at Absci Corp's (NASDAQ:ABSI) board, bought 222,222 shares of Absci Corp (NASDAQ:ABSI) at $4.50 per share on March 1. Since then through March 10 market close the stock has lost about 8% in value. Absci Corp (NASDAQ:ABSI) shares have gained about 185% over the past one year on the back of the AI wave. Absci Corp (NASDAQ:ABSI) is collaborating with NVIDIA to accelerate and scale Absci Corp's (NASDAQ:ABSI) in-silico ML pipeline.
Air pollution control technology company CECO Environmental Corp. (NASDAQ:CECO) ranks eighth in our list of the stocks with recent insider purchases. Richard F. Wallman, a director at the Texas-based company, on March 6 bought 50,000 shares of CECO Environmental Corp. (NASDAQ:CECO) at $19.78 per share. As of market close on March 6 the stock was trading at around $20.16. Over the past five days through March 10 the stock has lost about 6% in value.
On March 5 CECO Environmental Corp. (NASDAQ:CECO) posted strong Q4 results and also upped its FY’2024 outlook. Adjusted EPS in the period came in at $0.28, beating estimates by $0.04. Revenue in the period jumped 32% year over year to $153.7 million, beating estimates by $7.09 million.
In addition to CECO, Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (NASDAQ:KDP), Jazz Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ:JAZZ) and EchoStar Corp (NASDAQ:SATS) are also seeing insider buying activity.
Lauren Taylor Wolfe, Impactive Capital’s co-founder and managing partner, was added to the board of the Pennsylvania-based fintech company Envestnet Inc (NYSE:ENV) to avert a proxy fight. The director on March 6 bought 31,162 shares of Envestnet Inc (NYSE:ENV) at $52.19 per share. The stock has gained about 5.21% since then, as of March 10.
Quantum computing hardware and software company IONQ Inc (NYSE:IONQ) ranks sixth in our list of the stocks with the biggest insider purchases in terms on of dollar value. On March 5, Harry You, a director at IONQ Inc's (NYSE:IONQ) board, snapped up 115,000 shares of IONQ Inc (NYSE:IONQ)at $9.28 per share. Since March 5 the stock has gained about 16%.
A total of 21 hedge funds in Insider Monkey’s database of hedge funds reported owning stakes in the quantum computing company IONQ Inc (NYSE:IONQ) as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, up from 19 funds in the previous quarter.
Last month, IONQ Inc (NYSE:IONQ) posted quarterly results and gave strong 2024 guidance. IONQ Inc (NYSE:IONQ) expects revenue of $37 million to $41 million in the period, which would be a YoY increase of 68.2% to 86.4%.