Company insiders seem relatively unenthused about buying their companies shares. According to Form4Oracle.com, named for the public reports that detail insider trades, just 34% of companies with insider activity over the past four weeks saw more purchases than sales. A year ago, the number was greater than 50%.

On the whole, that s a gloomy sign. Studies show insider trades tend to be more prescient than trades made by us outsiders, so limited buying could mean that top executives believe share prices are rich enough. But just as some companies still carry low price/earnings ratios while the broad stock market has a high one, a handful of company insiders are busy buying.

Below are listed three companies with significant buying during the past month, whether because the transactions were large or because multiple insiders joined in the buying.

Casual Male

Based in Canton, Mass., Casual Male sells clothes for big and tall men through more than 450 stores. Most are Casual Male XL stores, which sell fashion basics in sizes up to 6XL and shoes up to size 16. Brands include Polo, Levis, Reebok and several private labels. The company also has a handful of Rochester Clothing stores, which specialize in pricier brands: Burberry, Joseph Abboud and so on. Sales for the company s current fiscal year, which ends Jan. 31, are expected to fall 11%, but profits have turned positive over the past year on sharp cuts in operating expenses and improvements in merchandise margins. Inventories and debt are down, and early estimates have profits rising to 21 cents a share from 11 cents a share over the next year. Calculated against the higher number, shares are 13 times earnings. Perhaps a more reliable measure, the company s stock market value is just one-third of its past-year sales. That s a discount of close to 80% to the median S&P 500 company. Two board members have scooped up shares in recent months, including purchases worth more than $180,000 over the past month.

Steak n Shake

A trio of directors at burger chain Steak n Shake have bought company shares this month, but that seems less remarkable than two other recent company developments. In December, the company carried out a 1-for-20 reverse stock split, which sharply reduced its share count while multiplying the price. Shares now sell for more than $300 apiece as a result. Also in December, management announced a bid for Fremont Michigan InsuraCorp. As the name suggests, Fremont doesn t make pickles or buns or run a dairy farm. It issues property and casualty insurance. Activist investor Sardar Biglari, who assumed the chairmanship at Steak n Shake in June 2008 and was named chief executive two months later (and who is one of the trio of recent insider buyers), made plain his intentions in a letter to investors last month. Simply because profits are generated in the restaurant business doesn t mean the money must be reinvested there, he wrote. Steak n Shake, then, is now an aspiring Berkshire Hathaway.

CVS CareMark

Per Lofberg, who chaired prescription benefits manager Medco Health Solutions back when it was affiliated with Merck and called Medco-Merck Managed Care, was named president of the prescription benefits business at CVS Caremark in June. His purchase of 45,000 CVS shares this month, then, could be read as a new-hire obligation more so than an endorsement. That said, there s much to like about CVS shares at the moment. They re around one-third cheaper than the broad stock market relative to earnings, and sales and profits are growing. Management boosted the dividend payment earlier this month, albeit from tiny to merely small. Recent yield: 1.1%.