by Fred Fuld III
When investors look for a “buy” signal, they often turn to the people who know the company best: its own executives and board members. While analysts look at balance sheets from the outside, insiders see the daily operations, upcoming contracts, and cultural shifts that won’t hit a public report for months.
As legendary fund manager Peter Lynch famously noted: “Insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise.”
The Advantages of Following “Skin in the Game”
Buying stocks with strong insider activity offers several distinct strategic benefits:
- Asymmetric Information: Insiders have an “information advantage.” They understand the nuances of their industry’s cycle and can identify when the market has overreacted to temporary bad news.
- Alignment of Interests: When a CEO buys a significant amount of stock with their own cash, their personal wealth becomes tied to the stock price. This aligns their incentives with those of retail shareholders.
- Signaling Undervaluation: Heavy insider buying often occurs when a stock is “beaten down.” It serves as a loud signal from management that they believe the current market price does not reflect the company’s intrinsic value.
- Predictive Power in Small Caps: Historical data suggests that insider buying is particularly predictive in small-cap and mid-cap stocks, where fewer Wall Street analysts are providing coverage.
Companies with Recent Strong Insider Activity
Here are four companies that have seen notable insider conviction as of early 2026.
Asbury Automotive (ABG)
Asbury Automotive is one of the largest automotive retailers in the United States, operating a vast network of dealerships and service centers. With a market cap of approximately $4.81 billion, the company currently trades at a relatively low P/E ratio of 8.63. While Asbury does not pay a regular dividend, it has been aggressive in its share repurchase programs.
- Recent Activity: Over the last 12 months, the company has seen notable conviction from institutional insiders, including a massive purchase of roughly $10.6 million (46,952 shares) by Abrams Capital Management. While there has been some selling by officers for tax and compensation purposes (roughly 22,000 shares in the last year), the net volume of shares bought on the open market remains significantly higher than those sold.
Anterix (ATEX)
Anterix is a specialized telecommunications company focused on providing private LTE network solutions, particularly for the utility sector. It has a market cap of roughly $475 million and a P/E ratio of 5.11. The company currently does not offer a dividend.
- Recent Activity: Insider sentiment at Anterix has been overwhelmingly positive. In late 2025, CEO Scott Lang made multiple open-market purchases totaling over $170,000. Overall, in the most recent 100 recorded trades, insiders have purchased roughly 2.44 million shares compared to only 307,000 shares sold, indicating a heavy bias toward the “buy” side as the company hits new operational milestones.
Universal Safety (UUU)
Universal Safety Products is a micro-cap player in the safety technology space, known for its smoke and carbon monoxide detection systems. The company has a market cap of $11.5 million and trades at a very low P/E ratio of 4.0. In late 2025, the company made headlines by paying a significant one-time special dividend of $1.00 per share following a successful asset sale.
- Recent Activity: Director Milton Ault III has been on a buying spree throughout the end of 2025. In December alone, he executed nearly a dozen separate purchases, totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. Within the last three months, insiders have bought over 108,000 shares while recording zero sales, a rare “clean” signal of management confidence.
WW International (WW)
Commonly known as WeightWatchers, WW International is currently navigating a major business pivot toward the clinical weight-loss and GLP-1 medication space. It has a market cap of approximately $236 million. Its P/E ratio has been volatile due to recent losses but is currently projected at roughly 13.0 for future earnings. The company does not currently pay a dividend.
- Recent Activity: Despite a challenging stock price environment, insiders are stepping in. Director Carney Hawks recently purchased 29,057 shares at an average price of $22.14, a total investment of over $643,000. This purchase significantly outweighed the minor selling of 469 shares by the company’s controller during the same period, suggesting that the board sees a disconnect between the current price and the company’s long-term pivot.
The Verdict on Insider Signals
When you look at the raw numbers, a pattern emerges: for these four companies, the volume of shares being purchased by insiders significantly exceeds the volume being sold. In the case of Universal Safety, the signal is a “unanimous” buy with zero selling. For Anterix and WW International, the sheer dollar amount of the recent buys suggests that leadership is willing to back their turnaround strategies with their own personal wealth.
Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time the article was written. No recommendations are expressed or implied.