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Suspicions of a wider insider-trading conspiracy on Wall Street were fanned last week by the release of an SEC study of 172 tender offers during 1981-85. In every instance, the target company's stock price rose abnormally at least 17 days before the takeover bid was made public. The study reached no firm conclusion about the cause, acknowledging that several factors, among them rumors and speculative press reports, could help explain the phenomenon. Nonetheless, "it is possible, and logical to many, that illegal insider- trading behavior" might be a significant factor, the study said. If so, the crackdown comes none too soon.