Christopher Thompson, a director at
Jacobs Engineering (J), recently bought 10,000 shares. The buy increased his stake by 46 percent, and came to a total price of just over $140,000.
This marks the first insider buy at the company in the past three years. Insiders have been regular sellers of shares throughout the past few years at fairly regular intervals, even as the share price has risen.
Overall, company insiders own 0.9 percent of shares.
The company offers private and public sector engineering and project services throughout the world. Earnings and revenue at the company have been flat over the past year, but shares are up 61 percent, far outpacing the S&P 500 index.
Action to take: While the company’s operational performance has been somewhat lackluster lately, shares are clearly in an uptrend. On a recent pullback, shares stayed over their 50-day moving average, a bullish sign.
Traders may want to take advantage of the current trend with a call option trade. The October $150 calls, with a bid/ask spread close to $5.50, look like an interesting way to play a move higher. There’s low downside compared to buying shares, but a potential for high-double to low-triple-digit returns. As with any option trade, look to take quick profits if the uptrend looks like it’s starting to wear out.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the stock mentioned here, and does not intend to trade this company after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any of the companies mentioned in this article.