Corporate Insiders Bought More in March Despite Market Selloff
Get the Finance newsletter
Daily finance — markets, central banks, M&A, the prints that move money. Free.
- InsiderSentiment.com data shows the percentage of public companies with net insider buying rose to 26.4% in March from 20.9% in February, defying the expectation that officers and directors would sell aggressively into a declining market
- March's 26.4% figure edges above the decade-long average of 23.5%, though data compilers Nejat and Jon Seyhun classify the reading as "neutral" rather than "solidly bullish"
- Nejat Seyhun, a University of Michigan finance professor, said the insider behavior suggests they "do not expect the Middle East war to last too long and predict that some of the price effects that occurred in March will reverse"
- Energy sector insiders actually pulled back—the net-buy percentage fell to 17.5% in March from 19.1% in February, undercutting the notion that executives are positioning for prolonged war-driven oil price gains
- The March selloff coincided with an ongoing Middle East war involving Iran, the backdrop that prompted the insider-data interpretation
Why it matters: For investors weighing whether to buy the dip, the insider data offers a mixed signal: aggregate net buying ticked up, but energy-sector insiders—the group with the most direct exposure to war-driven oil prices—actually reduced their buying. Seyhun's central read is that insiders expect the Middle East conflict to be short-lived, meaning the March price drops may be temporary.
Ask SkimNews
