Executives at video game retailer GameStop (GME) have been buying the company’s stock as the price has fallen this year.
Regulatory filings show that Alan Attal and Larry Cheng, two directors of GameStop, have been buying the company’s stock on the open market in recent weeks.
On September 8, Attal paid $266,700 U.S. for 15,000 GameStop shares at an average price of $17.78 U.S. each. He now owns 562,464 GameStop shares, according to forms filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Cheng also bought GameStop stock in September, paying $105,900 U.S. for 6,000 shares at an average price of $17.65 U.S. each. He now owns a total of 55,088 shares.
The insider buys come as GameStop’s share price has fallen sharply since June of this year after the company fired then chief executive officer (CEO) Matt Furlong and canceled a planned earnings call with analysts and media.
Over the past 12 months, GameStop’s stock has declined 37% to its current level of $18.22 U.S. per share.
The stock is 78% below the peak it reached in January 2021 during the meme stock trading frenzy that gripped retail investors.
The recent share purchases by Attal and Cheng also come ahead of the September 22 release of a movie about the meme stock rally called “Dumb Money.”
Stock purchases by insiders of a company are often viewed as an indication of confidence that the share price will rise in the near-term.