Insiders Have Bought Bank of America Corp (BAC), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), and More

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) had one of its Board members invest over $1 million in the stock by purchasing 5,000 shares on April 18^th. BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) did well in the first quarter of 2013, with revenue up 9% versus a year earlier and net margins widening slightly. However, the stock does carry trailing and forward P/Es of 18 and 14 respectively, and so its value is dependent on the business experiencing similar growth rates for some time. Adage Capital Management, managed by Phil Gross and Robert Atchinson, owned about 310,000 shares at the end of 2012 according to its 13F.

A corporation tied to an insider at Walgreen Company (NYSE:WAG) bought about 83,000 shares of the stock on April 19^th. Special items caused the company’s earnings to increase in its most recent quarter compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year, though revenue and operating income were essentially unchanged and so we wouldn’t assume good numbers going forward. The stock trades at 13 times forward earnings estimates, and might be worth watching for future results. William Gray’s Orbis Investment Management was one major shareholder of Walgreen Company (NYSE:WAG) at the beginning of January (check out Orbis’s stock picks).

Panetta Partners, which is directed by Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:SGYP) Chairman of the Board Gabriel Cerrone, purchased 18,000 shares on April 24^th. The development stage gastrointestinal drug company has a market capitalization of only about $350 million, but on average over 700,000 shares are traded per day and the current stock price is about $4.80 making for plenty of dollar volume. The sell-side is projecting that Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:SGYP) will lose 68 cents per share this year, and then losses per share will actually increase in 2014 to 82 cents. We would avoid the stock.

Disclosure: I own no shares of any stocks mentioned in this article.