Here are some of the most active stocks seeing insider buying, volume spikes, hidden institutional trading or Congressional buy activity.
Institutional Trading: Carvana (SYM: CVNA)
Institutions are piling into Carvana (SYM: CVNA) calls. On Friday, they bought $1.64 million worth and $1.34 million worth of the CVNA September 27, 2024 146 calls. That’s a deep in the money call option with the CVNA stock now trading at $172.95, which expires next Friday. Since bottoming out at around $128.50, CVNA has been pushing aggressively higher.
Helping, analysts at Bank of America say CVNA is “well positioned for sustained long-term growth,” as the leader in online car sales, as noted by Seeking Alpha. The firm also has a buy rating on CVNA with a $185 price target.
Evercore ISI analysts also reiterated an In-Line rating on the stock with a $157 price target.
“We believe Carvana’s consumer is holding up, with Carvana well positioned to drive industry leading retail used unit growth in 3Q via share gain,” added the firm, with the company’s bullish outlook amplified by partnerships with Hertz.”
Insider Buying: ECB Bancorp (SYM: ECBK)
The CFO of ECB Bancorp (SYM: ECBK) just bought about $70,000 worth of the stock.
As noted by Investing.com, “In a recent transaction on September 19, ECB Bancorp, Inc. CFO Brandon Lavertu acquired shares of the company’s stock, totaling approximately $69,857. The purchase was made at prices ranging from $13.87 to $14.00 per share.”
COO John Citrano also picked up 5,000 shares of ECBK on September 17 for about $67,350.
Since finding support at $13, the low-volume stock is now up to $14.09 and trending higher.
Volume Spike: Nike (SYM: NKE)
On Friday, Nike volume soared to 21.6 million, as compared to daily average volume of 15.3 million shares. Helping, CEO John Donahue is stepping down and will be replaced by Elliott Hill. Plus, as noted by CNBC, “Nike is in the midst of a broader restructuring after it shifted its strategy to sell directly to consumers. Critics say in the process of building out sales at Nike’s own stores and website, it lost sight of innovation and failed to churn out the types of groundbreaking sneakers the company was known for.”
Analysts at Wells Fargo, Piper Sandler and Baird also raised their price targets on the stock.
