They were buys. Bad wording in the form 4. It should have said the shares were purchased in multiple transactions at prices ranging from $1.53 to $1.56, inclusive.
You can tell by comparing the amount of shares he owned on 4/30/10...38,324. Add the 34000 and his total is what it shows at 72,324 per the form 4.
Im not inclined to read too much into these insider buys.
Director VERHAGE owns $2.25 million worth of DCI where he sucked out total compensation last year of $1.723 million.
His HTCH director fees alone are over $100k per year.
So the $52,000 he spent last week could hardly be considered wildly bullish.
His last purchase of HTCH was not timed very well.
30-Apr-10 5,400 HTCH Purchase at $6.21 per share.
(Cost of $33,534)
Richard Penn boguht $46,500 worth but that pales in comparison to the $717,700 in total compensation he sucked out last year.
The CFO bought 5000 shares. His total compensation last year was $303,900.
These 3 buys are insignificant relative to the insiders financial resources. (Chump change)
Still, they are better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
And its worth keeping an eye on to see if the insider buys continue by these and other insiders.