AI, Satellites and Staples: Insiders Are Buying and Selling 3 Big Names

Insiders are sending signals across top stocks in the artificial intelligence (AI) space and the consumer staples industry. These include purchases at one of the world’s most well-known semiconductor companies and an up-and-down food giant. Meanwhile, insiders are increasing their sales at a skyrocketing satellite stock, which is seeing big-time demand from governments.

TSMC Sees Small But Meaningful Insider Buy

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM) dominates the artificial intelligence (AI) chip-making space, making it a difficult AI stock to bet against. Even as chip design stocks like NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) have stalled in 2026, TSMC continues to surge higher. Its shares are up more than 20% during the year, while NVIDIA is essentially flat.

TSMC isn’t exactly a name that investors need to see bullish insider signals from, as the company already has so much going for it. However, such a signal surfaced recently.

In late March, Vice President Tien Bor-Zen purchased 1,000 of TSMC’s Taiwanese shares, worth around $56,000. Clearly, this buy is tiny in absolute dollar terms, compared to TSMC’s market capitalization of above $1.6 trillion.

However, for Bor-Zen, the purchase is not so insignificant. It increases Bor-Zen’s direct ownership in TSMC’s Taiwanese shares from 8,051 to 9,051. That is a meaningful 12% increase in his holdings.

While this purchase is by no means large, it is difficult to see insider buying as anything but a positive signal, no matter its size. Overall, this move is incrementally bullish, but not one that investors should overweight by any means.

Insiders Sell as Planet Labs Catapults

Next up is one of the hottest stocks in the entire market, satellite and geospatial imaging company Planet Labs PBC (NYSE: PL). This name has seen an explosive rise in its share price, up almost than 1000% over the past 52-weeks, and up over 70% in 2025. This comes as the firm is seeing very strong demand from governmental defense and intelligence organizations. These entities can use Planet Labs' imagery and software to track enemy projects and movements.

However, given the stock’s huge gains, it's fair to question how much longer this could continue. These concerns become even more legitimate when insiders are selling, which is exactly what happened in April.

Overall, MarketBeat has tracked approximately $9.6 million worth of insider sales since the beginning of the month. This compares to $5.9 million in sales during all of Q1 2016.

Importantly, around $2.6 million worth of these sales came through Robert H. Schinlinger’s predetermined 10b5-1 plan. Sales made under these plans are often not considered bearish, as insiders have to plan them far in advance of their execution.

On the other hand, Chief Financial Officer Ashley F. Johnson sold $7.02 million worth of shares, not under a 10b5-1 plan. Given Planet Labs' extensive gains, this is a moderately bearish signal for the stock.

Lamb Weston Retreats Again After Rebound; Insiders Step In

Insiders at potato product giant Lamb Weston (NYSE: LW) are doubling down on their belief in the company. Notably, Lamb Weston plummeted by nearly 26% to under $44 after releasing its fiscal Q2 2026 earnings report. This came as the company did not raise its guidance despite posting beats during the quarter. (Note that Lamb Weston’s fiscal year reporting period is several quarters ahead of the calendar period.)

Lamb Weston went on to recover above $50, but has since fallen below $44 again. It seems that insiders are taking advantage of this move, purchasing just under $10 million worth of shares in April. These buys came at prices between $39 and $41, not far below the stock’s latest prices. For the insiders who made them, these purchases were fairly significant.

Peter J. Benson increased his shares owned from around 32,700 to 37,700, an approximately 15% rise. Jana Investment Partners increased their shares held by approximately 5%; however, this comes off a very large base of more than 5 million shares.

Overall, these buys are a solidly bullish signal for the consumer staples stock, indicating insiders are buying what they see as a dip in shares.

Updated Targets Continue to Point to Gains in Planet Labs

Among this group, Planet Labs is the most interesting going forward, given its place in the quickly growing satellite industry. Notably, the MarketBeat consensus price target of around $30 projects more than 10% downside in shares. However, price targets spiked after the company’s latest earnings report. Targets updated after the report average $38, suggesting that shares could gain nearly 10% over the next 12 months. It is likely that whichever way Planet Labs shares move, gains or losses will be much larger than these targets imply.