President & CEO buys 50,000 shares.On Tuesday, July 30th, Gary Kolstad, President and CEO ofCARBO Ceramics (CRR) bought 50,000 shares of his company, paying $53,000. This increased his stake by over 10 percent, bringing his total share ownership in the company to over 512,000 shares. This is the first insider buy at CARBO this year, but Kolstad has been a buyer multiple times in 2018 at far higher prices. CARBO Ceramics is a technology company that provides products and services to the oil and gas industry, such as base ceramic proppants, frac sand proppants, and oil and gas operator...

CEO makes $4.5 million buy.On Friday July 26th,Air Products & Chemicals (APD) CEO Seifi Ghasemi picked up 20,000 shares of the company. At $227 per share, the total cost came to a whopping $4.5 million bet on the company. The new buy brings his total share count to nearly 454,000 shares. This marks the first insider buy at the company for 2019, and only one insider has sold shares at the industrial giant this year. Air Products & Chemicals provides atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, and related equipment and services worldwide. That includes products like oxygen, nit...

Big bet on shares rallying through January.On Monday, a bullish bet was made onAnheuser-Busch Inbev (BUD), maker of Budweiser and other beverages and spirits. The bet was on the January 2020 $90 call options on the stock, expiring 171 days from now. Over 15,000 of these contracts traded, against an open interest of 1,233, making for a 12-fold surge in volume on the option. Even more unusual is the fact that shares currently trade around $101, making the option about $11 in-the-money. It should move higher penny-for-penny with shares. At a current price around $14.00, there’s only about $...

Director makes $50,000 buy.Last week, Richard Fredericks bought 3,105 shares ofCadence Bancorp (CADE), increasing his stake by 3 percent. He paid nearly $50,000. This brings his total stake in the company to nearly 108,000 shares. Other directors have been buyers, largely back in May. Insiders have been sellers of shares at prices at least 20-25 percent higher than where they currently trade. Cadence is a Houston-based bank that operates 66 offices in Texas, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia. The bank was founded in 1885, and offers traditional banking products such as...

Big bet on shares declining in the next month.On Friday, a bearish bet onCaterpillar (CAT)led the options market for the size of unusual activity. Over 7,700 contracts traded on the August $128 put options, against an open interest of 123. That is a 62-fold surge in volume. With the share price around $134, shares will need to fall at least 4.5 percent for the option to trade in-the-money before the option expires on August 16th. Caterpillar is a global leader in farm, mining, and construction equipment, with over 104,000 employees around the world. Best known for tractors and loaders, t...

Big bet on shares rallying through October.On Thursday, a large bet was made on shares ofTarga Resources Group (TRGP) continuing its recent rally higher. Over 5,250 of the October $43 call options traded hands, against an open interest of 242—making for a 21-fold increase in volume. With a current share price around $40.50, this is a bet that shares will move at least 6 percent higher in the next 84 days. Targa is a storage and transport company for natural gas and oil, with a focus on large shale plays in Texas and Oklahoma. It has over 30,000 miles of pipeline, six terminals, and over ...

 Major holder adds to truck transportation company. On Thursday, Elliott International, LP, bought 1,866 shares ofRoadrunner Transportation Systems (RRTS). While the total cost was under $20,000, Elliott already owns over 23,148,000 shares of the company— making them a major shareholder. The recent buy increases their holdings by 0.01 percent, the fund has been a repeat buyer of shares near current prices in prior months in the 1,500-8,000 share range. Roadrunner operates asset-light transportation and logistics services, primarily in the United States and Canada, through 40 ...

Director adds to stake of regional bank. On Tuesday, director Karl Silberstein picked up 4,000 shares ofBank of Commerce Holdings (BOCH). The buy increases his stake to 30,295 shares, and came at a total cost of $42,400. Over the past two years, insiders at Bank of Commerce Holdings have been buyers, with no sales. Insiders own nearly 6 percent of outstanding shares.   Bank of Commerce Holdings is the holding company for Redding Bank of Commerce in Northern California. The bank is largely in the traditional lending business to small and medium-sized businesses as well as retai...

[image]Major fund owner adds to stake. Last week, Owl Creek Asset Management bought over 428,000 shares of pdvWireless Inc (ATEX). This represented a 16 percent increase in the fund’s holdings and brings their total share ownership up to over 3,076,000. The fund, with over $2 billion in assets under management, owns over 10 percent of shares in the company.   pdvWireless provides network and mobile communication solutions to infrastructure and enterprise customers, with a cloud-based mobile resource management solution and push-to-talk mobile communication services, and provid...

Trader makes bullish bet before earnings on Wednesday. Shares ofFacebook (FB) may rally on Wednesday after it reports earnings. On Monday over 29,400 contracts traded on a July 26th call option on the social media giant. With a strike price of $227.50 and with shares around $200, it’s a bet that shares will move up in the coming four days. Shares would need to move 13.5 percent higher for the trade to move in-the-money.   With the option trading around $0.32, or $32 per contract, this is a cheap bet on any earnings move higher Wednesday. And should earnings miss or the share p...