Insider Selling at U.S. Financial Services Company, Executive at Struggling Beauty-Product Maker Buys Shares, and Other Insider Trading

CEO of REIT Boosts Stake as Shares Struggle in 2017

The man in charge of Armada Hoffler Properties Inc. (NYSE:AHH) snapped up a block of shares at the beginning of the week. President and CEO Louis S. Haddad bought 15,000 shares on Monday at prices varying from $13.77 to $13.81 per share. Mr. Haddad currently owns an aggregate of 220,868 shares following the recent purchase.

The full service real estate company focused on developing and owning institutional-grade office, retail and multifamily properties in markets throughout the Mid-Atlantic United States has seen the value of its shares jump 28% in the past year. Earlier this month, Armada Hoffler Properties Inc. (NYSE:AHH)’s boardroom approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.19 per share, which marked an increase of 5.6% over the prior quarter’s dividend. The quarterly dividend yields a spicy annual dividend yield of 5.51%. The real estate investment trust’s normalized funds from operations (FFO) – a measure of cash generated by REITs – totaled $50.9 million for 2016, up from $38.7 million recorded for the previous year. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies LLC held 1.38 million shares of Armada Hoffler Properties Inc. (NYSE:AHH) at the end of December.

Executive at Low-Priced Lantronix Buys Shares Near 52-Week High

One member of Lantronix Inc. (NASDAQ:LTRX)’s management team purchased some shares at the end of the previous week. Kevin Yoder, Vice President of Worldwide Sales, bought 5,000 shares on Friday at a price tag of $2.21 each. Mr. Yoder owns 14,668 shares after the Friday transaction.

The shares of the global provider of secure data access and management solutions for Internet of Things and information technology assets have gained 135% in the past year, after rising 25% in 2017 alone. Lantronix Inc. (NASDAQ:LTRX)’s net revenue for the December quarter rose by 17.6% year-over-year to $11.22 million, primarily due to sales growth in both the IoT and IT Management product lines. More importantly, the company reported net income of $41,000 for the fourth quarter, as compared to a net loss of nearly one million recorded a year ago. The improvement in profitability was attributable to growth in net revenue, as well as a 26.7% increase in gross profit. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Lantronix Inc. (NASDAQ:LTRX) by 32% to 13,448 shares during the three months ended December 31.

As usual, the final page of the article will discuss fresh insider selling observed at two other companies.