Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors, especially when markets are uncertain or near all-time highs.

Some return buyers were among the insiders acquiring shares this last week.

A beauty products company and an online dating outfit were among the firms that saw notable insider buying.

Conventional wisdom says that insiders and 10% owners really only buy shares of a company for one reason — they believe the stock price will rise and they want to profit. So insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors, particularly when there is uncertainty in the markets or the markets are near all-time highs.

Note that with the earnings reporting season all but over, insiders are no longer prohibited from buying or selling shares. The following are some of the most noteworthy insider purchases that were reported in the past week.

A 10% owner of crafting machine maker Cricut Inc (NASDAQ: CRCT) indirectly bought 467,000 shares last week. At prices ranging from $27.40 to $31.88 per share, and that cost that owner more than $13.7 million. Note that the same owner purchased less than 17,000 shares in the previous week too.

The purchase of over 200,700 more PennyMac Financial Services Inc (NYSE: PFSI) shares by a director (and frequent buyer) for $61.22 to $63.10 per share totaled almost $12.53 million. The latest buys raised that director’s stake to more than 2.78 million shares. The director added nearly 221,000 shares in the prior week.

An officer and a director at Selecta Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ: SELB) acquired a combined 1.93 million or so shares. At $3.19 to $4.15 per share, that added up to almost $7.2 million. These buys helped lift the stock last week, and it ended Friday trading at $4.34 per share.

Peloton Interactive Inc (NASDAQ: PTON) saw a pair of beneficial owners scoop up almost 55,900 shares in the past week. That added up to around $5.53 million altogether at share prices between $98.37 and $99.75 each. Note that options traders had high expectations for the stock last week.

Midweek, a Bumble Inc (NASDAQ: BMBL) director bought 117,500 shares at between $41.27 and $44.10 apiece. That cost the director about $5.03 million. An officer purchased 200 shares of this online dating company’s stock in the previous week as well. The shares closed the week at $47.72 a share.

The same director who bought Selecta Biosciences (see above) also purchased some Morphic Holding Inc (NASDAQ: MORF) shares. They paid $44.98 to $47.67 apiece for 130,000 of these shares. That totaled more than $6.01 million. When Friday’s trading ended, the stock was at $49.36 per share.

89bio Inc (NASDAQ: ETNB) saw a 10% owner step up to the buy window. The more than 207,400 shares indirectly acquired, at prices ranging from $17.78 to $18.95, totaled over $3.85 million. Note that this same owner recently purchased shares of Werewolf Therapeutics as well.

In the pullback that followed disappointing quarterly results, Coty Inc (NYSE: COTY) had a 10% owner pick up 245,700 shares at around $11.78 each. This added up to more than $2.89 million. However, the beauty products company ended the week trading at $8.91 per share.

A Goodrx Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: GDRX) beneficial owner indirectly scooped up more than 57,900 of its shares last week. At prices between $31.62 and $32.94 a share, the purchases totaled over $1.88 million. Note that an executive parted with 20,000 shares in the past week as well.

See also: Elon Musk Tweets That Tanked Bitcoin Likely Came Due To Pressure From Institutional Investors, Says Tesla Bull Cathie Wood

Note that some smaller amount of insider buying at Apollo Global Management Inc (NYSE: APO), Butterfly Network Inc (NYSE: BFLY), Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA), Keurig Dr Pepper Inc (NASDAQ: KDP), Opendoor Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: OPEN) and Quantumscape Corp (NYSE: QS) was reported in the last week as well.

At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the mentioned equities.

Keep up with all the latest breaking news and trading ideas by following Benzinga on Twitter.

Read More