Executives at Crane Manufacturer Buy Shares Amid Optimism about Infrastructure Spending Boost, Plus Other Insider Trading

CEO of Battered Clinical-Stage RNAi Company Keeps Buying Shares

While purchases conducted through public offerings are worth analyzing, insider purchases made on the open market are much more informative. After all, some executives may participate in public offerings because their companies need capital to survive (not because the shares are cheap). The man in charge of RXi Pharmaceuticals Corp (NASDAQ:RXII) snapped up some shares on the open market this past week. President and CEO Geert Cauwenbergh bought 10,000 shares on Friday at a weighted average price of $0.69 per share. Dr. Cauwenbergh currently owns an aggregate of 92,583 shares after the Friday purchases.

The shares of the clinical-stage RNAi company have plunged by 76% in the past year and Dr. Cauwenbergh has been constantly buying 10,000-share blocks over the past several months. So it’s probably worth considering RXi Pharmaceuticals Corp (NASDAQ:RXII) as a possible investment. The so-called RNAi therapies are designed to “silence” the expression of a specific gene that may be over-expressed in a disease condition. At the beginning of the month, RXi Pharmaceuticals received a written notice from the Nasdaq Stock Market notifying the company of non-compliance with the minimum bid price requirements for continued listing. As a result, the bid price of the company’s shares must have a closing bid price in excess of $1.00 per share for ten consecutive business day to regain compliance. Hal Mintz’s Sabby Management LLC added a 397,371-share position in RXi Pharmaceuticals Corp (NASDAQ:RXII) to its portfolio during the fourth quarter.

Executives at Crane Manufacturer Buy Shares Amid Optimism About Infrastructure Spending

Several executives at Manitowoc Company Inc. (NYSE:MTW) purchased shares in the past few weeks. To start with, Aaron H. Ravenscroft, Executive Vice President of Mobile Cranes, snatched up 5,000 shares on Tuesday at a price tag of $6.57 each, lifting his overall holding to 28,456 shares. President and CEO Barry L. Pennypacker bought 78,000 shares last Tuesday at prices varying from a low of $6.26 to a high of $6.35 per share. Mr. Pennypacker owns a total of 86,419 shares after the purchase.

The shares of the crane manufacturer have gained 10% thus far in 2017, a climb fueled by Donald Trump’s inauguration speech on January 20. President Trump emphasized and restated his plans to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure, which spurred optimism among investors. Manitowoc Company Inc. (NYSE:MTW) completed the spin-off of its foodservice business in early March 2016, a spin-off based on the premise that the separation would result in better capital allocation decisions, strategic flexibility, and distinct business profiles appealing to different groups of investors. Carl Icahn’s Icahn Capital LP held 10.58 million shares of Manitowoc Company Inc. (NYSE:MTW) at the end of 2016.

Let’s move on to the final page of the insider trading article, where we discuss recent insider selling at two other companies.