Insiders Have Bought Apache Corporation (APA), Kohl’s Corporation (KSS), and More

A vice president at Ultra Petroleum Corp. (NYSE:UPL) who had previously bought shares in early March bought an additional 3,000 shares on April 1^st. Over 80% of Ultra’s revenue comes from natural gas- as opposed to Apache Corporation (NYSE:APA), which derives about that share of its revenue from oil sales- and so the company has been hit hard by low natural gas prices. Ultra Petroleum Corp. (NYSE:UPL) was barely profitable in 2012 even after adding back impairment charges, and revenue was down 24%. Marathon Asset Management reported a position of 2.5 million shares at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012 (see Marathon’s stock picks).

$4.9 billion market cap telecom company Windstream Corporation (NYSE:WIN) had several company officers buying shares in the last month. Windstream Corporation (NYSE:WIN) currently pays a quarterly dividend of 25 cents per share, which at current prices makes for a dividend yield of over 12%. The stock price is down by a larger amount than that in the last year, and the dividend itself is not as solid as one would find at larger telecom companies such as AT&T (NYSE:T), but it is certainly high enough that income investors may be willing to take on the risk. Cash flow from operations was $1.8 billion in 2012, though most of this cash was used on capital expenditures.

CEO James Hooke of Macquarie Infrastructure Company LLC (NYSE:MIC) purchased over 13,000 shares of stock on March 28^th for a little over $51 per share. Macquarie Infrastructure Company LLC (NYSE:MIC) is another stock which should get some attention from income investors, with a dividend yield of 5.1%. However, records show that the company ceased paying dividends for some time during the financial crisis, and even after they resumed it took some additional time for them to rise back to 2008 levels. So as with Windstream investors in search of yield should be cautious- it might be worth looking for lower-yield investments in more reliable companies.

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