Executives of some beaten-down companies, including one battered biotech name and a popular soft drinks maker, scooped up shares of their own stock in the past week. Insider buying by corporate executives and board members is seen as a signal of insiders’ confidence in the firm and that the stock may be underpriced. Some professional investors track insider buying as a potential sign of company quality. CNBC Pro screened for the five U.S. companies with the biggest insider buying over the past week, excluding 10% owners that tend to be funds and funds that are listed as directors, according to VerityData. Each of these names have at least $1 billion in market cap. Here are the top insider buys: Energy Transfer — Executive Chairman Kelcy C. Warren bought 1 million shares on Monday at $13.53 per share for a total value of $13.53 million. Enstar Group — CEO Dominic F. Silvester bought 45,000 shares at $227.18 each on Wednesday for a total value of $10.2 million. Remitly Global — Director Nigel W. Morris purchased 300,000 shares between Nov. 3 and Nov. 6 for $5.8 million. Sarepta Therapeutics — Director Richard Barry bought 50,000 shares valued at $3.9 million in a “high IQ” buy, per Verity, while president and CEO Douglas Ingram bought $2 million worth of shares, according to a filing from Monday. Keurig Dr Pepper — COO Timothy P. Cofer bought 100,000 shares at an average of $31.17 per share for a total value of $3.1 million, increasing his holdings by a third. Executives of biotech company Sarepta and financial services provider Remitly bought the dip in the stocks, with Sarepta down more than 37% over the past month and Remitly down 19% over the same period. Sarepta earlier this month posted third-quarter earnings and revenue that came out ahead of Wall Street’s expectations. The stock had plunged to a five-year low on Oct. 31 after the company’s trial for its FDA-approved Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy failed to meet its goal. Shares have since picked up, gaining roughly 14% so far in November. Another insider purchase this week came from Keurig Dr Pepper’s chief operating officer, whose transactions took place between Monday and Wednesday, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Cofer now owns 400,000 shares of common stocks following the purchase. Keurig Dr Pepper — which owns several brands including Canada Dry, Dr Pepper and Mott’s — beat analysts’ third-quarter expectations, when its results were released on Oct. 26. The company also reaffirmed its full-year forecast. Shares are up more than 2% over the past month. Enstar Group CEO bought swathes of shares on Wednesday, the day after the company reported its earnings for the third quarter. The results showed Enstar swung to a profit of $38 million, or $2.43 per share. The stock has gained about 8% so far this year, and shares are up roughly 4% over the past month.
