Buybacks Snap Back Amid Feverish Selling by Corporate Insiders
- Insider buying dries up after equity rally swells valuations
- Surging stock repurchases reflect a focus on balance sheet
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After gutting buybacks to conserve cash, American corporations are repurchasing shares again. Corporate officers, on the other hand, are showing a bit less enthusiasm for their employers’ shares.
In the first two weeks of the new year, a total of 1,000 insiders sold their own stock and 128 bought shares, leaving the sell-to-buy ratio poised for the highest monthly reading in data going back to 1988, according to Washington Service. Meanwhile, corporations announced $29 billion of buybacks over the stretch, up 46% from a year earlier, data compiled by Birinyi Associates show.