Many investors follow the buying trends of company insiders because, after all, insiders know more about their companies than anyone else. When a company sees a lot of insider buying, investors should take a second look.
Here we ran a screen on stocks trading near their 52-week lows. From this universe, we searched for stocks that have seen significant net insider buying over the last six months.
Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes in analyst ratings over the last two years for the top six stocks mentioned below. Analyst ratings sourced from Zacks Investment Research.
We also created a price-weighted index of the stocks mentioned below, and monitored the performance of the list relative to the S&P 500 index over the last month. To access a complete analysis of this list's recent performance, click here.
Do you share insiders’ confidence in these companies? Use this list as a starting-off point for your own analysis.
List sorted by net insider purchases as a percent of share float.
1. AbitibiBowater Inc. Common Stoc (ABH): Paper and Paper Products Industry. Market cap of $1.99B. The stock is trading 7.73% above its 52-week low. Net insider purchases over the last six months at 3,608,951 shares, which represents 4.38% of the company's 82.31M share float. The stock is a short squeeze candidate, with a short float at 8.17% (equivalent to 9.7 days of average volume). The stock has performed poorly over the last month, losing 12.79%.
2. American International Group, Inc. (AIG): Property and Casualty Insurance Industry. Market cap of $55.73B. The stock is trading 9.78% above its 52-week low. Net insider purchases over the last six months at 6,982,680 shares, which represents 3.06% of the company's 228.47M share float. The stock has lost 0.78% over the last year.
3. Auxilium Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AUXL): Drug Related Products Industry. Market cap of $941.49M. The stock is trading 7.55% above its 52-week low. Net insider purchases over the last six months at 973,072 shares, which represents 2.22% of the company's 43.80M share float. The stock is a short squeeze candidate, with a short float at 20.69% (equivalent to 15.98 days of average volume). The stock has performed poorly over the last month, losing 10.55%.
4. Saul Centers Inc. (BFS): REIT Industry. Market cap of $751.52M. The stock is trading 9.88% above its 52-week low. Net insider purchases over the last six months at 196,636 shares, which represents 1.49% of the company's 13.20M share float.
5. TransAtlantic Petroleum Ltd. (TAT): Oil and Gas Drilling and Exploration Industry. Market cap of $612.75M. The stock is trading 2.80% above its 52-week low. Net insider purchases over the last six months at 1,668,640 shares, which represents 0.84% of the company's 199.44M share float. The stock is currently stuck in a downtrend, trading 9.34% below its SMA20, 20.96% below its SMA50, and 42.69% below its SMA200. The stock has performed poorly over the last month, losing 18.45%.
6. Jefferies Group Inc. (JEF): Investment Brokerage Industry. Market cap of $4.22B. The stock is trading 6.77% above its 52-week low. Net insider purchases over the last six months at 766,000 shares, which represents 0.41% of the company's 186.33M share float. The stock has lost 3.69% over the last year.
7. Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. (OSG): Shipping Industry. Market cap of $797.10M. The stock is trading 6.07% above its 52-week low. Net insider purchases over the last six months at 73,682 shares, which represents 0.30% of the company's 24.73M share float. The stock is a short squeeze candidate, with a short float at 28.79% (equivalent to 9.84 days of average volume). The stock has lost 25.98% over the last year.
*Insider buying data sourced from Yahoo! Finance, all other data sourced from Finviz.
