Executives Send Buy Signals on These 4 Stocks

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The stock market and commodities seem to be in a state of confusion right now. There's a distinctive feeling of impending doom in the air, which is just what we need to find a bottom.

That bottom may not be far away. The daily trading volume of the stocks I follow and the companies that comprise the major stock indices are lackluster enough to conclude that there's still plenty of money is on the sidelines right now.

One of the volume leaders midweek was none other than Bank of America (BAC). This is a stock that's experienced a fair amount of insider trading over the past 10 days.

Some of the insider action involved officers who cashed out of new shares on the same day they received them. Apparently that's what happened on May 14, when CEO Brian Moynihan, CFO Bruce Thompson and Co-COO Thomas Montag all exercised options and then sold the exact amount of shares they received, according to EDGAR Online data available on Yahoo! Finance.

Now iff you want to see a company with at least one insider who has his money where his heart is, take a look at Devon Energy (DVN)

The co-founder and Executive Chairman of Oklahoma City-based Devon, J. Larry Nichols, is reported to own 1,859,221 shares of the company as of Dec.11 and as far as I can see he hasn't sold any of those shares in 2012, which may be a positive sign.

Devon is a well-run company that explores for and produces oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Of this year's Fortune 500 companies, Devon ranked No. 1 in the Return on Revenue category, which is calculated by dividing net income by revenue.

Devon is the only U.S. energy company on the Fortune 500, World's Most Admired and 100 Best Companies to Work For lists.

Devon's current price of around $61-a-share is well below the target range set by analysts at Wells Fargo (even after a recent downgrade), and the median target price by other analysts is an even more robust $86.

Yesterday Wells Fargo downgraded Devon to Market Perform, claiming the company is likely to underperform its peers over the next few quarters. The bank lowered its target share price range to $65-$71, from $74-$80.

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