The biggest insider purchases of the last 90 days, and why three-quarters of the “buying” does not count

Executives and directors of U.S.-listed companies reported $1.90 billion of purchases (Form 4 code P) in the 90 days from July 9 to October 6, 2026, across 783 stocks — $318.9 million of it counted twice, because amended filings sit next to the originals they replaced. Only about $465 million of that — roughly a quarter — was people buying on the open market with their own money: in their own account, through a family trust, or through a company the filing says they own. The rest was something else, and lists that add it all up mislead.

What was left out, and why

• A fund’s money. The largest single figure, $324.0 million at Jefferies, was bought by Sumitomo Mitsui, a bank, not by a person; Baker Bros’ $157 million at Kodiak Sciences was a fund’s money too.
• Stock bought from the company. Intel’s chief executive, Lip-Bu Tan, bought $10.0 million of shares on August 11, but in Intel’s own offering at $95.00 — the prospectus says he and a family member “have agreed to purchase $12 million of the shares being offered in this offering at the public offering price.” That is not an open-market purchase.
• A 10b5-1 plan. The largest purchase by a single person in the window, $89.6 million by Jack Huang at 51Talk, was made under a trading plan adopted on December 25, 2025.
• Private deals. Matthew Moroun’s $31.2 million at PAMT was a “privately negotiated transaction” with a family trust; James Monroe III’s $29.8 million at Globalstar was “purchased from James Lynch in a private transaction for estate planning purposes.”
• Amendments. Jefferies appeared in the raw data with $642.8 million because the original filing ($318.7 million) and the amendment that replaced it ($324.0 million) were both counted.

Shareholders who own 10% or more but are not executives or directors bought another $2.5 billion and are not counted here; the largest was Cascade Investment, Bill Gates’s investment company, with $1.38 billion of Republic Services.

The ranking: people buying with their own money

“Change” compares the October 6 close with the average price the insiders paid. Of the top 20 in this ranking, 15 were below that price on October 6. A “director” is a board member, not an executive. Some purchases went through entities the filings say the person owns: Kelcy Warren through Kelcy Warren Partners, LP (“a limited partnership owned by Mr. Warren”), Ernest Rady partly through American Assets, Inc., which the filing says he directly controls, and Tor Olav Troim through Drew Holdings, owned by a trust of which he is a beneficiary. The longer story of Warren’s buying is in our Energy Transfer article.

Buying in groups

Another way to read the data is by how many different insiders bought the same stock. Eleven executives and directors of Amrize bought a combined $2.6 million from August 11 to September 2, 2026, some of it paid in Swiss francs; the stock closed 15.9% below their average price on October 6. Seven insiders at Cardinal Infrastructure bought $8.5 million on August 14–17 at an average of $38.54; the stock fell 57.9% over the 90 days and closed at $28.72. Seven also bought at Dick’s Sporting Goods ($5.6 million). We read these companies’ 8-Ks from the last six months and found no pending merger or stock offering.

How to use this

A Form 4 never says why someone bought, and a purchase is not a forecast. A line usually attributed to Peter Lynch puts the case for watching them anyway: “Insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise.” The filings above are the raw material; the insider activity page updates them every day, and each company page — GameStop, Grab, Energy Transfer, American Assets Trust, Uber, Borr Drilling, Liberty Capital, Alpha Metallurgical, Boston Scientific, Nayax, Amrize, Cardinal Infrastructure — lists every filing. Not investment advice.