CEO, director add to insider buys this year. CEO Amit Kumar and director Lewis Titterton have been buyers atAnixa Biosciences (ANIX). The CEO bought 10,000 shares, increasing his holdings in the company by 6 percent, paying over $41,000. The director bought 15,000 shares, increasing his holdings by 2 percent, paying over $61,000. Insiders, including other directors at the firm, have been steady buyers at the company in the past year, with no insider sales in the past year. Insiders have bought near current prices, and as much as 9 percent higher than where shares trade. Anixa Biosc...

Bet on oil giant rallying more through Friday.Friday’s $41 call options onBritish Petroleum (BP) saw heavy trading as the oil market shot higher. With just three trading days until expiration, over 128,992 contracts of the option traded at an average price of $0.14. With an open interest of 3,500 contracts, this is a near-37-fold increase in volume on the trade. Shares of BP surged to $39 in trading, so the trade is a bet shares can move another $2, or about 5 percent higher. BP operates a worldwide energy business with oil and natural gas exploration, field development, and transportati...

Insiders make first buy in 14 months.Director William Albrecht recently added to his stake atHalliburton (HAL), with an 8,000 share buy. The purchase doubled his total stake to 16,000 shares, and cost over $154,000 to make the buy. This is the first insider buy at the company in 14 months, following a series of sales by insiders at prices anywhere from 28 to 49 percent higher than current prices. Halliburton provides various products and services to the oil and natural gas industry. Their products include well casing and cementing services, well completion and sand control products, pump...

Bet on railroad firm getting back to 52-week high.The February 2020 $77.50 call options onCSX Corp. (CSX) saw 2,000 contracts trade, an 18-fold increase over the prior open interest of 114. With shares of the company around $72.21, the option will trade in-the-money if shares rise at least 7.3 percent between now and February. With a price of $2.53 per contract on average, the call buyer will need to see shares trade closer to $80 to make a profit come expiration. As the company’s 52-week high is right at $80 per share, the option looks dicey. CSX operates rail-based freight transportati...

October put buying suggests shares will remain weak. The October 18th $12 put options onNew York Community Bancorp (NYCB) saw an unusual amount of trading volume with over 8,700 contracts trade against a prior open interest of 268, a 32-fold rise in volume. With shares around $13.30, the $12 put option will close in-the-money if shares fall more than 10 percent in the next few weeks, making a sizeable percentage decline. New York Community Bancorp is a regional bank headquartered in New York state, offering traditional banking services such as checking and savings accounts, mortgage a...

CEO makes six-figure buy.Thomas Vetter, president and CEO atCars.com (CARS), picked up 11,000 shares recently, increasing his total share stake to just under 270,000 shares, making for a 4.5 percent increase in his total holdings at the company. At a price of around $9.60 per share, the buy came out to just over $105,000, a sizeable amount considering the company’s $650 million market cap. Cars.com operates a digital marketplace bringing together buyers and sellers of cars. The company has over 5 million listings and serves over 20,000 dealer customers. Shares are down over 64 percent in...

Bet on rally in Brazilian ore play in next month.The October 4th $12.50 call options inVale (VALE) saw heavy trading recently. With shares around $11.80, the option is a bet on shares moving another 6 percent higher in the next 22 trading days before expiration. Over 3,750 contracts on this option traded against a prior open position of 100, making for a 37-fold surge in volume on the trade. With a cost of just $0.16, or $16 per contract, it’s an inexpensive bet that could give the trader a lopsided return if shares move even higher. If Vale shares hit $13 at expiration, the option could...

Multiple insiders buy this week. In the past week, multiple insiders have been buyers atAt Home Group (HOME). That includes a 4,000 share buy by the company’s Chief Development Officer, a 64,000 share buy from the CEO and President, a 6,400 share buy from the COO, a 21,000 share buy from a director, and a 10,000 share buy from the company CFO. These buys have all occurred in the past few days, and represent over $750,000 of purchases from insiders on the open market. At Home Group operates home décor stores in the United States, including furnishings, mirrors, rugs, wall art, and othe...

President & CEO makes a 32,000 share buy.Cigna Group (CI)President & CEO David Cordani picked up 32,509 shares recently. The buy increased his stake in shares to over 357,500 shares, and the recent purchase cost just over $5 million. Insiders at the company have largely been sellers year-to-date, albeit in smaller amounts of a few hundred to a few thousand shares at most. And Cordani recently sold 27,000 shares in March at a price just 6 percent higher. Cigna Corporation is a health service organization that provides insurance and related products and services around the world.Ac...

Senior VP buys nearly $100k in shares.Kyle Larkin, a Senior Vice President atGranite Construction (GVA), picked up 3,500 shares of the company, increasing his stake by nearly 73 percent. The cost came to just under $100,000. Insiders have been net buyers, and data shows that in the past year, corporate insiders have gone from owning 1.8 percent of the company to 2 percent, a small but important increase. Granite Construction is in the business of infrastructure contracting and construction materials productions in the United States, with a focus on transportation, water, specialty, and m...