Insiders Making Moves: Chesapeake Energy Corporation (CHK), ADT Corp (ADT) & More

A Board member at Hercules Technology Growth Capital Inc (NYSE:HTGC), which primarily provides debt and equity to new ventures and private equity backed companies, was buying the stock at prices of around $14.60 per share. The company recently increased its dividend to 27 cents per share- a level at which the yield is over 7%- though it does tend to invest in somewhat risky securities to go with this high return. It is also fairly cheap in earnings terms, however, with a trailing P/E of 12, and might be worth a look from income investors.

Trucking company Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ:ODFL) also makes our list of stocks with recent insider purchases. Old Dominion carries trailing and forward P/Es of 20 and 16, respectively, so markets are pricing in moderate to high earnings growth for the next several years. In fact, the company’s last quarterly report shows a 9% rise in revenue compared to the second quarter of 2012 with net income up by 22%. Billionaire Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group reported a position of 1.4 million shares in its most recent 13F (find Griffin’s favorite stocks).

The executive chairman of office-focused real estate investment trust American Assets Trust, Inc (NYSE:AAT) recently bought 2,000 shares of stock. The company primarily owns and invests in property in California. It has been making quarterly dividend payments of 21 cents per share since shortly after going public in early 2011 (the stock has gained over 50% since then). As a real estate investment trust, American Assets Trust must distribute a large share of taxable income to shareholders in order to preserve its tax status.

Disclosure: I own no shares of any stocks mentioned in this article.