Big Insider Buying at Hot IPO Solid Biosciences (SLDB), Range Resources (RRC) and General Electric (GE)

With the stock market having been battered in recent days and fears that a large correction may be starting to pick up steam becoming more pronounced, investors are now in a position to nab certain stocks at a discount. That has prompted some insider buying in major names like General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), which has lost close to 20% in the last month and 50% in the last year.

We’ll look at the insider trading at that company, as well as the stock purchases made by insiders of Solid Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:SLDB) and Range Resources Corp. (NYSE:RRC) in recent days in this article.

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We start with Range Resources Corp. (NYSE:RRC), where insider Steffen Palko, a Director on the company’s board, purchased 34,000 shares on January 30 at an average cost of $14.72 per share. That purchase lifted Mr. Palko’s ownership of Range Resources stock to 61,267 shares, more than doubling his position.

Range Resources Corp. (NYSE:RRC) shares have not been spared by the market’s brutality in recent days, shedding 24% of their value in the past two weeks and they’re also down by 86% since the summer of 2014. Range Resources continues to focus on strengthening its balance sheet, with a five-year plan recently unveiled that seeks to lower the company’s leverage to less than 2-times its net debt to EBITDAX. However, the company’s 2018 guidance came in below analyst estimates due to conservative spending, which includes plans to shutter the bulk of activity at its once-promising Terryville natural gas complex.

Himanshu H. Shah‘s Shah Capital Management opened a position containing 80,100 shares of Range Resources in the fourth quarter of last year, valued at $1.37 million.

Gene therapy company Solid Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:SLDB) had its IPO on Friday, January 26 and it’s been an adventurous first week on the market for the company and its early backers, which includes Joseph Edelman‘s Perceptive Advisors.

After jumping to nearly $24 on Monday from an IPO offering price of $16, shares backtracked by 5% on Tuesday after it emerged that a leading scientist in the field of gene therapy, James Wilson, had quit the company’s advisory board and released a paper which detailed how pigs and monkeys given high doses using the company’s AAV gene therapy delivery system went into “toxic crisis”. The company also revealed that a partial clinical hold had been placed on its lead candidate SGT-001 back in November. The 5% decline turned out to be just a minor blip on the stock’s radar however, as shares have jumped by 20% since.

In addition to Perceptive Advisors, two insiders recently added to their big stakes in Solid Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:SLDB), buying a total of 1.3 million shares at $16 each during the recent public offering. Bain Capital Life Sciences, which is co-managed by Solid Biosciences Director Adam Koppel, purchased 300,000 shares, giving Mr. Koppel indirect ownership of 1.99 million shares. Meanwhile, the RA Capital Healthcare Fund and a separately managed account purchased 1 million shares, giving Director Rajeev Shah, a Portfolio Manager at Peter Kolchinsky‘s RA Capital Management, indirect ownership of 2.69 million shares.

On the next page we’ll look at the insider trading at General Electric Company (NYSE:GE).

General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) Senior Vice President Alexander Dimitrief purchased a total of 2,689 shares in two transactions towards the end of January, lifting his direct ownership of the company to 81,185 shares, while his indirect ownership rose to 75,224 shares. As mentioned in the intro, shares of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) have been roasted on the market over the past 14 months, falling from nearly $32 to just above $15.

The iconic company has fallen into disarray, and it’s doubtful that this small vote of confidence from its SVP will do much to improve investor confidence. General Electric is currently in the midst of an SEC investigation related to the $6.2 billion charge that it incurred in the fourth quarter after a review of its insurance portfolio. Deutsche Bank has speculated that the company could also be removed from the Dow Jones, which it’s been a part of for 120 years. Billionaire Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway said last month that he would consider buying GE at the right price, saying it is “a big, strong company”.

Disclosure: None