Insider Radar — Week of August 24, 2026
Insider selling fell by more than half to $2.10 billion in the week of August 24, the lightest week since July 20, and reported buying nearly doubled to $658.7 million. The composition undercuts both numbers. Bill Gates's Cascade Investment took $306.1 million of Republic Services for a third straight week, and Ernesto Bertarelli bought a $219.0 million block of Madison Air at $24.97 on a day a director of the same company paid $27.84 in the market. Strip the 10% holders out and officers and directors bought $117.2 million, 18% of the total and the lowest share in the twenty-seven weeks we have measured.
Officers and directors bought $117.2 million of their own companies in the week of August 24, 2026, just 18% of the $658.7 million total and the lowest share in twenty-seven weeks. Two 10% holders supplied three quarters of the rest, and one of them paid a 10% discount to the price a director of the same company paid that day.
Buying nearly doubled, and two holders were 80% of it
Reported buying came to $658.7M across 351 events in 166 tickers, up 99% from $331.7M the week before. Two names account for $525.7M of that, or 80% of everything bought. Neither is an executive putting money into their own company.
Cascade Investment, the holding company of Bill Gates and a longtime 10% owner of Republic Services (RSG), bought 1,382,616 shares across five filings between August 24 and 28 at prices from $219.41 to $223.74, for $306.1M. That is the third straight week Cascade has been the largest buyer on the tape. Over the three weeks it has added 3,382,545 shares for $740.8M, and it kept going after our window closed with another 301,000 shares on August 31. A large holder averaging into a position it has held for years is accumulation and it is worth watching at this size, but it is not the same signal as a chief executive reaching into their own pocket.
The second name is worth reading carefully. Ernesto Bertarelli reported a purchase of 8,770,524 Class A shares of Madison Air Solutions (MAIR) on August 25 at a flat $24.97, for $219.0M. A flat price on a block that size is a negotiated transaction rather than open-market buying, and the filing that proves it came from the same company on the same day: director Andrew Hudson La Force III bought 20,000 shares at $27.84, 11% higher. Bertarelli is a 10% owner and was not buying at the market price. Madison Air has no prior Form 4 history in our data, so this is the first insider activity the company has reported.
Strip out the 10% holders and the entities and $117.2M is left. That is 18% of the week's buying, and it is the lowest share in the twenty-seven weeks of this series. It is also the fifth straight weekly decline in that share: 92% in the week of July 13, then 79%, 52%, 43%, 36%, 24% and now 18%. The dollar figure rose from $78.9M, so this is not executives buying less. It is entity money growing much faster around them.
Seventeen insiders bought more than $1M, eight of them sitting officers. The largest individual purchase was Alibaba (BABA) vice chairman Joseph Tsai, who took 1,440,000 ordinary shares over August 24 and 25 at $14.29 and $14.47, for $20.7M. Chief executive Wu Yongming bought 350,000 more at $14.24 on August 24, so the two of them put $25.7M into the stock in two days. Ordinary shares trade at roughly an eighth of the New York ADR, which is why the price looks low against the quote you see. Klarna (KLAR) chief executive Sebastian Siemiatkowski bought $9.9M at a flat $14.37 on August 26.
Further down the list, Suja Life (SUJA) shows $10.3M from Paine Schwartz Food Chain Fund V, a fund adding to a company it already controls rather than an insider buying stock.
One row on the buy list should not be read as conviction. Aura Minerals (AUGO) director Bruno Sousa Mauad shows $21.8M of purchases on August 28 at $82.57 to $89.36, the second largest officer or director purchase of the week. The same director sold $24.3M in the same week at $84.42 to $88.45, on August 24 and August 28. He finished the week a net seller.
| Ticker | Buyer | Role | Event value | Price | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUGO | Bruno Sousa Mauad | Director (sold $24.3M the same week) | $21.8M | $82.57–$89.36 | Aug 28 |
| BABA | Joseph C. Tsai | Director | $20.7M | $14.29–$14.47 | Aug 24–25 |
| KLAR | Sebastian Siemiatkowski | CEO and director | $9.9M | $14.37 | Aug 26 |
| IMTX | Perceptive Advisors LLC | Director entity | $7.5M | $8.69 | Aug 26 |
| NGL | John T. Raymond | Director | $5.5M | $16.22–$16.98 | Aug 24–25 |
| BABA | Wu Yongming | Chief Executive Officer | $5.0M | $14.24 | Aug 24 |
| AAT | Ernest S. Rady | Executive Chairman | $4.1M | $22.52–$22.89 | Aug 24–28 |
| PETZ | Liu Dandan | CEO and Chair, 10% holder | $3.6M | $1.20 | Aug 27 |
| WELL | Andrew Gundlach | Director | $2.4M | $239.47–$242.06 | Aug 25–26 |
| AMR | Kenneth S. Courtis | Director | $2.2M | $216.22–$235.47 | Aug 25–28 |
| DKS | Mark J. Barrenechea | Director | $2.2M | $130.72 | Aug 27 |
| RNAQU | Jonas Grossman | Director and 10% holder | $1.9M | $10.00 | Aug 28 |
| SGI | Scott L. Thompson | CEO and President | $1.9M | $62.84 | Aug 27 |
| ADC | John Rakolta Jr. | Director | $1.5M | $73.23–$73.52 | Aug 27–28 |
| NPB | Charles Alan Williams | Chairman and CEO | $1.3M | $16.95 | Aug 25–26 |
| KURA | Troy Edward Wilson | President and CEO | $1.2M | $12.39 | Aug 24 |
| TTMI | Edwin Roks | President and CEO | $1.1M | $111.77 | Aug 25 |
Selling halved, and the largest discretionary sales were sitting chief executives
Insiders and large holders disposed of $2.10B across 921 events in 472 tickers, down 55% from $4.65B. Against buying that is 3.2 to 1, well under the 14.4 to 1 median of the twenty-six preceding weeks. Filing volume fell with it, to 1,109 Form 4s from 1,639. Some of that is the late-August lull rather than a change of heart, and the ratio is flattered by the entity buying described above, so the cleaner read is the level, and $2.10B is the lightest week of selling since July 20.
The raw sell total needs one correction before any of that holds. When several related filers report the same block, each files a separate Form 4 and a naive sum counts the block two or three times. This week that overcount is $430.0M across twenty-four groups, 17% of the gross figure, and every dollar of it is on the sell side. Life Time Group (LTH) is the clearest case: Green LTF Holdings II LP reports 2,879,154 shares at $43.80 as the direct holder, and John Kristofer Galashan and John G. Danhakl each report the identical block as indirect holders, so a gross read shows $378.3M where $126.1M changed hands. Chime (CHYM) has two DST Global Advisors entities filing identical sales on three days, $200.1M gross against $100.0M. At Jersey Mike's (JMKE), Blackstone Holdings II and Submarine Buyer LLC file the same 2,572,560 shares at $21.85. OrthoPediatrics (KIDS) has three filers on one block. Counting each block once puts the week at $2.10B, and every figure on this page is on that basis.
The top of the disposal list is sponsors leaving at a fixed price. Green LTF sold $126.1M of Life Time at a flat $43.80. SVF Pauling, a SoftBank Vision Fund vehicle, sold $116.4M of Relay Therapeutics (RLAY) at a flat $19.40. DST Global took $100.0M out of Chime and Blackstone $56.2M out of Jersey Mike's. None of those is a view on next quarter.
What is unusual this week sits just below them. The largest discretionary sales by individuals were almost all sitting chief executives, and none of them were on a plan. Corpay (CPAY) chairman and chief executive Ronald Clarke sold $88.5M over August 24 and 25 at $409.56 to $419.62, the largest unscheduled sale of the week by a person. Carpenter Technology (CRS) chairman and chief executive Tony Thene sold $52.9M on August 25. Abbott (ABT) chairman and chief executive Robert Ford sold $46.2M the same day. Charles Schwab (SCHW) co-chairman Walter Bettinger sold $28.3M across the week, Tenet Healthcare (THC) chief executive Saumya Sutaria $27.6M, Caterpillar (CAT) chief executive Joseph Creed $26.2M and Comfort Systems (FIX) chief executive Brian Lane $25.8M at a single price of $1,608.21. Those seven executives sold $295.5M between them without a scheduled plan, in a week when eight sitting officers bought more than $1M and the largest of those purchases was $9.9M.
Scheduled plans did $699.0M of open-market sales, 34% of the S-code total, up from 27% the week before. Airbnb (ABNB) chief strategy officer Nathan Blecharczyk was the largest at $82.0M across the full week, then Arista Networks (ANET) founder Andreas Bechtolsheim at $60.8M in a single day and Lumentum (LITE) executive Vincent Retort at $33.0M. CoreWeave (CRWV) supplied two, chief executive Michael Intrator at $27.3M and chief development officer Brannin McBee at $21.4M.
| Ticker | Seller | Role | Event value | Type | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LTH | Green LTF Holdings II LP | Director entity (3 filers, one block) | $126.1M | Block at $43.80 | Aug 26 |
| RLAY | SVF Pauling (Cayman) Ltd | 10% holder | $116.4M | Block at $19.40 | Aug 25 |
| CHYM | DST Global Advisors Ltd | 10% holder (2 filers, one block) | $100.0M | $33.04–$33.51 | Aug 24–26 |
| CPAY | Ronald Clarke | CEO and Chairman | $88.5M | Open market | Aug 24–25 |
| ILMN | Keith A. Meister | Director | $85.2M | Open market | Aug 25–27 |
| ABNB | Nathan Blecharczyk | Chief Strategy Officer | $82.0M | 10b5-1 | Aug 24–28 |
| ANET | Andreas Bechtolsheim | 10% holder | $60.8M | 10b5-1 | Aug 27 |
| JMKE | Blackstone Holdings II L.P. | 10% holder (2 filers, one block) | $56.2M | Block at $21.85 | Aug 25 |
| CRS | Tony R. Thene | Chairman, President and CEO | $52.9M | Open market | Aug 25 |
| ABT | Robert B. Ford | Chairman and CEO | $46.2M | Open market | Aug 25 |
| GNK | Diana Shipping Inc. | 10% holder | $37.6M | Open market | Aug 24–28 |
| LITE | Vincent Retort | Officer | $33.0M | 10b5-1 | Aug 25 |
| SCHW | Walter W. Bettinger | Co-Chairman | $28.3M | Open market | Aug 24–28 |
| THC | Saumya Sutaria | Chief Executive Officer | $27.6M | Open market | Aug 24–25 |
| CRWV | Michael N. Intrator | CEO and President | $27.3M | 10b5-1 | Aug 25 |
| CAT | Joseph E. Creed | Chief Executive Officer | $26.2M | Open market | Aug 28 |
| FIX | Brian E. Lane | Chief Executive Officer | $25.8M | Block at $1,608.21 | Aug 26 |
| FROG | Yoav Landman | Chief Technology Officer | $25.1M | 10b5-1 | Aug 27 |
Methodology
Source data is public SEC Form 4 filings collected by AlphaAI, covering transactions dated August 24 through August 30, 2026. Transactions are grouped into events by filing, issuer and ownership form, so a sale executed in many tranches under one filing counts once rather than inflating the count. Purchases are P-code transactions, disposals are S and D codes. Event groups summing above $1 billion are excluded, because at that size the row is almost always a merger, tender or reorganisation rather than a discretionary trade; no event hit that cap this week. Where several related filers report the same block, only one copy is counted: filings are collapsed when the ticker, date, transaction code, security title, share count and value all match, keeping the direct holder's filing where there is one. That correction removes $430.0 million across twenty-four groups this week, 17% of the gross sell figure and the largest such adjustment in the series so far, and the four biggest groups are named in the text above. Prior weeks are restated on the same basis for comparison, so the $4.65 billion shown here for the week of August 17 is the same data as the $5.09 billion gross figure published in that issue, with co-filed blocks counted once. Newly issued preferred stock is excluded from buying, because it is a financing at a stated value rather than a purchase at a market price: four Calamos closed end funds, CCD, CHW, CHI and CHY, issued $48.9 million of mandatory redeemable preferred shares to MetLife Investment Management at a flat $25.00 this week, and those are not in the totals. Activity filed under 10b5-1 plans is split out, because those trades are scheduled months ahead and say nothing about what a seller thinks now. Roles come from the officer, director and 10 percent holder flags on the filing itself, and titles are used only where the filing supplies one. Values are shares multiplied by the reported price, with no currency normalisation, so prices are stated as filed: Alibaba's insiders report ordinary shares rather than the New York ADR, which trades at roughly eight times the ordinary share, and Aura Minerals, Klarna, Immatics and JFrog likewise report the security named in the filing. The recent median sell to buy ratio covers the twenty-six preceding weeks that each had more than $10 million of reported buying, and those weeks ranged from 0.9 to 42.2, so a single week's ratio should be read against that spread rather than on its own. Filing coverage matured over the first half of 2026, so week to week comparisons are more reliable than comparisons with the spring. The window was pulled on September 2, after the two-business-day filing deadline for every transaction date in it had closed. Filings arriving on the day of the pull added about 1.5% of the window's value, and for the three prior weeks the same Wednesday-noon cut-off captured 94% to 98% of what those windows eventually held. Weekly filing volume was down 32% on the prior week across every day of the window, not only at the end, which is a late-August lull in filing rather than a truncated tail. This is a readout of public filings and not investment advice.
Sources: SEC EDGAR Form 4 filings
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