This guarantees nothing for those of us owning Foot Locker (FL/NYSE), but Barron's Online carried a story Friday that the company's top man and two insiders have purchased $1.4 million worth of its stock:
Chairman and CEO Matthew Serra paid just under $1.3 million for 100,000 shares Thursday at an average price of $12.74 per share, according to a filing disclosed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Also this week, Foot Locker's CEO for international operations Ronald Halls acquired 4,000 shares for $50,400, while director Matthew McKenna added 8,000 shares for $103,339.
According to Barron's, Serra owns 1.1% of Foot Locker's stock, and neither of the other two executives stakes reach the 1% threshold. (How much of their personal worth is represented isn't mentioned.)
Another bit:
Ben Silverman, director of research at InsiderScore.com, says the purchases represent the first significant insider buys at Foot Locker in the last five years. He notes that Serra's expenditure equals about one year of the CEO's base salary. Silverman adds that such cluster buying in the wake of a poor earnings report is "insiders trying to send a message that the stock is oversold and that the prospects for the company are brighter than the stock is indicating."
I'm underwater with the stock. But remain cautiously optimistic about the company's longer term prospects. I could always be wrong, though.
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