Recent market volatility has led some chief executives and other insiders of certain names to buy shares, according to Bank of America. Stocks have had a rocky start to the year, facing pressure amid economic worries and shakiness around President Donald Trump's plans to impose tariffs on goods from a slew of countries. The S & P 500 has fallen more than 3% in 2025. However, insiders have swooped in to snap up stocks as of late. "Positioning of active hedge funds and mutual funds gives insight into consensus among fundamental investors. But insider positioning can be considered the 'smartest money,'" wrote Savita Subramanian, head of U.S. equity and quantitative strategy at Bank of America, in a note earlier this month. "Interestingly, extreme insider buying/selling has been a better contrary indicator since 2010, perhaps as insiders tend to support stocks by buying amidst a drop and/or they sell early into strength," she added. Subramanian has found that over the past three months, meaningful insider buying has emerged at a number of companies, such as casino operator Wynn Resorts and cosmetics company Estee Lauder . Below are the top 10 S & P 500 companies where insiders have been snapping up shares. Wynn Resorts had the top insider buying as a percentage of its float – or shares available for trading by the public – at 0.53%. Billionaire Tilman Fertitta, CEO of Landry's, recently increased his stake in the casino name, buying 400,000 shares over a few days in early April, according to a securities filing and Verity Data. This comes after the owner of the Houston Rockets previously increased his stake to 9.9% last year to become the company's largest individual shareholder. Shares of Wynn Resorts are up 2% in 2025. The name is liked on Wall Street, with 15 out of 18 analysts rating it a buy or strong buy, per LSEG. Consensus price targets call for more than 20% upside. WYNN 1M mountain WYNN, 1-month Occidental Petroleum was also on the list with insider buying being 0.11% of its float in the past three months. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has been buying more shares of the Houston-based energy company. In fact, it bought 763,017 shares back in February for $35.7 million. Occidental posted first-quarter adjusted earnings that surpassed the Street's estimates on Wednesday, landing at 87 cents a share, while FactSet consensus estimates called for 78 cents a share. Shares are off more than 14% in 2025, and analysts largely rate the stock hold. Consensus price targets call for 14% upside, per LSEG. OXY 6M mountain OXY, 6-month Franklin Resources , which was ranked sixth on the list, saw insider buying over the past three months at 0.04% of its float. Billionaire Charles Johnson, who retired as chairman of the company in 2013 , bought 100,000 shares in March for $2 million. Shares are up more than 3% in 2025. Most analysts rate the name hold, and consensus price targets call for the stock to slide about 7% from current levels, per LSEG.
