Intrexon Director Recently Made Small Insider Buy

Conventional wisdom says that insiders and 10 percent owners really only buy shares of a company for one reason -- they believe the stock price will rise and they want to profit from it. So insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors, particularly during periods of uncertainty. Case in point: a recent notable buy at Intrexon Corp (NYSE: XON).

A director at this leader in the field of synthetic biology bought 6,900 shares last week. The share price for the purchase was $29.02, for a total of more than $200,000.

Back in November, the company offered up disappointing quarterly results, then investors got more bad news when the WHO declared that the Zika virus was no longer a global emergency.

Related Link: Insulet's CEO Lets His Money Do The Talking

Intrexon currently has a market capitalization near $3.5 billion. Short interest is more than 15 percent of the float, but the consensus recommendation of analysts is to buy shares. After retreating about 11 percent in late November, the stock popped about 5 percent on Monday, though it's still down more than 9 percent in the past 52 weeks. Shares closed at $29.95, above that director's purchase price.