In February 2016, as bank stocks hit new lows, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon dove in with a $26 million open market stock purchase of JPMorgan's stock.
Other bank insiders followed suit that year and continued to buy in 2017.
It was a sign that the financial stocks were cheap.
Quietly, in 2017 and 2018, the insiders of another sector have been equally as enthusiastic: the energy insiders.
Do you know who Vicki Hollub is?
She's the President and CEO of oil giant Occidental Petroleum.
On Mar 13, 2017, she bought nearly $1 million worth of Occidental shares after the stock had sunk 13% to start the year.
And she wasn't the only Occidental insider to buy in 2017.
As energy stocks remained out of favor, and Occidental shares remained weak, the CFO bought shares in June and two directors bought shares in August.
What did Hollub and the other Occidental insiders know last year?
The shares have surged 23% since she bought.
Energy Insiders Went on a Buying Spree in 2017
But she wasn't the only energy company insider to buy in 2017.
At driller Helmerich & Payne, the shares had taken a dive in 2017. By Sep 12, 2017, they were down 39% on the year.
That's when the Helmerich & Payne CEO stepped in to buy $238,000 worth of shares. Since that purchase on Sep 12, 2017, the stock is up 41%.
At exploration giant Pioneer Natural Resources, three directors bought stock on the open market within a week of each other starting on Aug 9, 2017. Since that first Aug 9 purchase, the shares are up 49%.
They're Still Buying in 2018
But the insiders weren't done buying in 2017.
Energy stocks remained in the doghouse to start 2018 and have significantly lagged the rebound in crude.
The insiders are again seeing this weakness as a buying opportunity in their stock.
On Apr 26, the CEO of Superior Energy Services bought 30,000 shares just two days after the company reported first quarter earnings that beat by a penny.
The shares have fallen 9% over the last year, although they are up 5.6% year-to-date.
And he's not the only insider buying this year.
Insiders at big oil service companies, Canadian exploration and production companies and small US domestic oil exploration companies were all buying more shares.
Insider Buying Sends a Strong Signal
Why would these CEOs and corporate insiders spend so much of their money on their own companies' stock when they already own a ton shares already?
Greed!
Pure and simple.
The opportunity to make more money motivates people -- even people who are already millionaires like Jamie Dimon.
If top insiders are buying, it's because they know something very good is going on at the company. Maybe it is a new product. Or contract. Or pending merger.
Whatever the reason, they are very confident that shares will be on the rise. After all, who would buy more stock in a company if they knew it was sinking???
Buy When the Insiders Buy
When high level insiders buy, they are required to report the purchases to the SEC within 48 hours of the trade. The trade then becomes public information.
Hedge funds and other professional investors routinely use this information to get an edge on their trades.
For most of us, though, it's not easy to get access to the insider information. While the media will trumpet huge insider buys like Dimon's $26 million buy, did you hear anything about Occidental CEO Hollub's 2017 purchase?
The challenge is getting easy and reliable access to all the insider trades and then figuring out which ones to buy.
Where to Find the Insider Buys
Anyone can go on the SEC website and get the insider trading information but it's time consuming to search by individual companies.
Some investment firms collect the insider buying data and can provide it to you as a weekly list. Have you ever seen one of those lists? The sheer number of companies can be overwhelming.
In some instances, the insiders have been known to buy en masse. Then what's an investor to do?
This happened during the stock market dip in August 2011. As stock prices fell, insiders felt that their companies were undervalued and rushed out to buy shares.
That August, insiders bought stock in 50 different S&P 500 companies in just one week. Even if you got a list of those stocks, how would you narrow it down to the stocks that were truly worth buying?
To solve this problem, our Zacks research team developed a strategy that monitors selected insider buying activity at companies that already show strong earnings and excellent valuations. We do the work of sifting through all the insider buys so you don't have to.
Just a handful of stocks meet the demanding criteria of our Zacks' Insider Trader. Right now, we've narrowed it down to 9 insider buys that make the grade.
One of the most exciting buys involves a cluster of high-ranking insiders at another energy company scooping up shares.
The CEO and 2 members of the Board of Directors pulled out their wallets and bought shares of their company with their own money -- all on the same day. This was the very first open market purchase for both Directors.
Five days later, the CEO went back and bought even more shares, and a third Director made her first purchase of shares from ANY company since 2014.
Load Up on Shares Along with These Officers
Today, I invite you to see this cluster buy plus the 8 other selected trades with exceptional gain potential we're following in our Insider Trader portfolio. Start now and as an added bonus you may download our latest Special Report, 5 Stocks Set to Double free of charge. This just-released Special Report complements our shorter-term Insider Trader with 5 long-term stocks that Zacks experts predict could gain +100% or more over the next year.
Important note: Access to the Insider Trader portfolio and Special Report is limited. This opportunity ends Sunday, May 6.
See our insider trades and download 5 Stocks Set to Double now >>
Best,
Tracey Ryniec
Tracey is Zacks' value and insider strategist, is Editor in Charge of our Insider Trader portfolio.
Image: Bigstock
You Won't Believe What the Insiders are Buying Right Now
In February 2016, as bank stocks hit new lows, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon dove in with a $26 million open market stock purchase of JPMorgan's stock.
Other bank insiders followed suit that year and continued to buy in 2017.
It was a sign that the financial stocks were cheap.
Quietly, in 2017 and 2018, the insiders of another sector have been equally as enthusiastic: the energy insiders.
Do you know who Vicki Hollub is?
She's the President and CEO of oil giant Occidental Petroleum.
On Mar 13, 2017, she bought nearly $1 million worth of Occidental shares after the stock had sunk 13% to start the year.
And she wasn't the only Occidental insider to buy in 2017.
As energy stocks remained out of favor, and Occidental shares remained weak, the CFO bought shares in June and two directors bought shares in August.
What did Hollub and the other Occidental insiders know last year?
The shares have surged 23% since she bought.
Energy Insiders Went on a Buying Spree in 2017
But she wasn't the only energy company insider to buy in 2017.
At driller Helmerich & Payne, the shares had taken a dive in 2017. By Sep 12, 2017, they were down 39% on the year.
That's when the Helmerich & Payne CEO stepped in to buy $238,000 worth of shares. Since that purchase on Sep 12, 2017, the stock is up 41%.
At exploration giant Pioneer Natural Resources, three directors bought stock on the open market within a week of each other starting on Aug 9, 2017. Since that first Aug 9 purchase, the shares are up 49%.
They're Still Buying in 2018
But the insiders weren't done buying in 2017.
Energy stocks remained in the doghouse to start 2018 and have significantly lagged the rebound in crude.
The insiders are again seeing this weakness as a buying opportunity in their stock.
On Apr 26, the CEO of Superior Energy Services bought 30,000 shares just two days after the company reported first quarter earnings that beat by a penny.
The shares have fallen 9% over the last year, although they are up 5.6% year-to-date.
And he's not the only insider buying this year.
Insiders at big oil service companies, Canadian exploration and production companies and small US domestic oil exploration companies were all buying more shares.
Insider Buying Sends a Strong Signal
Why would these CEOs and corporate insiders spend so much of their money on their own companies' stock when they already own a ton shares already?
Greed!
Pure and simple.
The opportunity to make more money motivates people -- even people who are already millionaires like Jamie Dimon.
If top insiders are buying, it's because they know something very good is going on at the company. Maybe it is a new product. Or contract. Or pending merger.
Whatever the reason, they are very confident that shares will be on the rise. After all, who would buy more stock in a company if they knew it was sinking???
Buy When the Insiders Buy
When high level insiders buy, they are required to report the purchases to the SEC within 48 hours of the trade. The trade then becomes public information.
Hedge funds and other professional investors routinely use this information to get an edge on their trades.
For most of us, though, it's not easy to get access to the insider information. While the media will trumpet huge insider buys like Dimon's $26 million buy, did you hear anything about Occidental CEO Hollub's 2017 purchase?
The challenge is getting easy and reliable access to all the insider trades and then figuring out which ones to buy.
Where to Find the Insider Buys
Anyone can go on the SEC website and get the insider trading information but it's time consuming to search by individual companies.
Some investment firms collect the insider buying data and can provide it to you as a weekly list. Have you ever seen one of those lists? The sheer number of companies can be overwhelming.
In some instances, the insiders have been known to buy en masse. Then what's an investor to do?
This happened during the stock market dip in August 2011. As stock prices fell, insiders felt that their companies were undervalued and rushed out to buy shares.
That August, insiders bought stock in 50 different S&P 500 companies in just one week. Even if you got a list of those stocks, how would you narrow it down to the stocks that were truly worth buying?
To solve this problem, our Zacks research team developed a strategy that monitors selected insider buying activity at companies that already show strong earnings and excellent valuations. We do the work of sifting through all the insider buys so you don't have to.
Just a handful of stocks meet the demanding criteria of our Zacks' Insider Trader. Right now, we've narrowed it down to 9 insider buys that make the grade.
One of the most exciting buys involves a cluster of high-ranking insiders at another energy company scooping up shares.
The CEO and 2 members of the Board of Directors pulled out their wallets and bought shares of their company with their own money -- all on the same day. This was the very first open market purchase for both Directors.
Five days later, the CEO went back and bought even more shares, and a third Director made her first purchase of shares from ANY company since 2014.
Load Up on Shares Along with These Officers
Today, I invite you to see this cluster buy plus the 8 other selected trades with exceptional gain potential we're following in our Insider Trader portfolio. Start now and as an added bonus you may download our latest Special Report, 5 Stocks Set to Double free of charge. This just-released Special Report complements our shorter-term Insider Trader with 5 long-term stocks that Zacks experts predict could gain +100% or more over the next year.
Important note: Access to the Insider Trader portfolio and Special Report is limited. This opportunity ends Sunday, May 6.
See our insider trades and download 5 Stocks Set to Double now >>
Best,
Tracey Ryniec
Tracey is Zacks' value and insider strategist, is Editor in Charge of our Insider Trader portfolio.