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• Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors when markets face uncertainty.
• Some chief executive officers were among the insiders making notable purchases this past week.
• Insiders made return trips to the buy window to increase their stakes, and one took advantage of a secondary offering.

Conventional wisdom says that insiders and 10% 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 when there is uncertainty in the markets, as has been the case as new COVID-19 cases surge.

Here are some of the most noteworthy insider purchases that were reported in the past week, as the year winds down and investors ponder the new year.

A 10% owner purchased a big block of Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (LXRX) shares at $3.20 apiece. The total for the more than 10.93 million shares that the owner acquired added up to about $35 million. The shares ended the week's trading at $33.38.

Southern National Banc. of Virginia, Inc. (SONA) CEO Dennis Zember acquired 100,000 shares of this bank holding company, while other insiders bought more than 10,500 shares, as well. Prices ranged from $11.57 to $12.47 per share, and altogether these transactions added up to more than $12.77 million.

A Net 1 UEPS Technologies Inc. (UEPS) director returned last week to purchase almost 732,300 more shares of this South African tech company at $3.43 to $3.60 apiece. That totaled less than $2.84 million, and it raised that director's stake to more than 11.95 million shares.

Moving and insurance company AMERCO (UHAL) saw President Edward Schoen scoop up 5,000 shares at $428.13 to $430.05 per share. That added up to more than $2.14 million. Shares of this Reno, Nevada-based company ended last week's trading at $443.49 apiece.

A director at Burlingame, California-based ALX Oncology Holdings Inc. (ALXO) indirectly purchased 20,000 shares in a secondary offering. At the offering price of $76 per share, the total for this transaction came to $1.52 million. The purchase brought the stake to 995,000 shares, as well.

An executive stepped up to the buy window last week and paid $11.46 to $11.84 each for 126,000 Grid Dynamics Holdings Inc. (GDYN) shares. That cost the executive more than $1.47 million, and it brought her stake in this California-based IT company to more than 277,800 shares.

The owner of Steak 'n Shake and Maxim magazine, Biglari Holdings Inc. (BH), saw CEO Sardar Biglari add 4,520 additional shares to his stake. At $118.00 (for class B shares) to $630.00 (class A shares), that cost Biglari more than $1.01 million. His stake is listed as up to more than 816,300 shares.

Athene Holding Ltd. (ATH) CEO Richard Belardi indirectly bought more than 40,000 Series D Preference Shares late last week. At $25 per share, that cost him about $1 million. This purchase came in the wake of the announcement of a pension buyout agreement with GE.

Viatris Inc. (VTRS), formerly known as Mylan, had a director purchase more than 27,700 shares in the middle of the week. At per-share prices ranging from $17.57 to $17.73, that cost him nearly $489,700. The shares ended the week at $17.75. Mylan merged with Upjohn, a division of Pfizer (PFE), in November.

Two Stonex Group Inc. (SNEX) officers acquired almost 16,000 shares of this financial services company altogether last week. At $50.79 to $53.19 per share, these transactions totaled about $828,900. The stock was last seen changing hands at $56.00 per share.

Note that there also was some smaller amount of insider buying at Broadcom Inc. (AVGO), Citi Trends, Inc. (CTRN), Curiositystream Inc. (CURI), National Health Investors Inc. (NHI), and TransDigm Group Incorporated (TDG) reported last week.