Perhaps nothing instills more confidence in the minds of investors than company insiders using their own money to buy shares of their company’s stock. That’s why shareholders of JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Wynn Resorts, Limited (WYNN) and Zillow Group (Z) must be thrilled to see the massive insider buying by top insiders at the three companies in recent weeks.
Let’s take a look at which top insiders are buying and what their big investments might mean for JPM, Zillow Stock, and Wynn Resorts shares.
J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM)
Just last month, high-profile CEO and Chairman of the Board at JPM, Jamie Dimon, disclosed a purchase of more than $26.5 million in JPMorgan stock. In addition to Dimon’s purchase, one of the bank’s directors, James Crown, also has a pair of insider buys in 2016 totaling more than $846,000.
Bank stocks have been hit particularly hard during the market sell-off, and JPM is now down 10.7% year-to-date. Both Democratic frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, as well as new Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari, have spoke out recently in favor of breaking up the “too big to fail” U.S. banks. In addition, the banks have sold off on fears that global economic instability, particularly in China, could put a halt to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate tightening cycle.
While the market seems concerned about JPM and the other big banks, Dimon and Crown apparently see the dip as personal buying opportunities, a reassuring thought for other shareholders.
Wynn Resorts (WYNN)
For the past three months, WYNN CEO Steve Wynn has been buying shares of the battered gaming stock hand over fist. In December, Wynn disclosed a $63.8 million purchase. He then disclosed $31.8 million in additional buys on Jan 22 and $15.0 million more on Feb. 10. All together, Wynn has added $110.6 million worth of shares to his huge stake in recent months, bringing his total position to around 12 million shares.
News of Wynn’s purchases and better-than-expected gaming revenue numbers out of Macau in February have sent WYNN stock on an insane 67% rally after the stock hit new multi-year lows early in mid-January. According to Wynn’s disclosures, his recent purchases happened at an average share price of around $60. That means that he has already made a nearly $50 million on-paper gain from the buys in about three months.
Zillow (Z)
This last example of insider buying is somewhat of a unique case. Z board member Jay Hoag is not directly buying shares of the company, but rather buying them indirectly through several of his Technology Crossover Venture (TCV) funds.
In February, Hoag disclosed three separate new purchases of Z that totaled $45.2 million.
TCV normally invests mostly in private companies, but the company has a history of some extremely well-timed public purchases as well. For example, back in May of 2012, Hoag purchased shares of Netflix (NFLX) at a split-adjusted price of between $10 and $11 per share. Today, less than four years later, NFLX is up more than 770%.
So far, Hoag also seems to have great timing when it comes to his Z stock purchases as well. Shares are now up more than 20% in the last month alone.
In addition to Hoag’s large February purchases, Z CEO Spencer Rascoff disclosed a $259,000 insider buy on March 1.
As of this writing, Wayne Duggan was long WYNN.
