Three Companies with Prominent Insider Buying and Two Companies Registering Massive Insider Sales

This Metal Packaging Supplier Witnessed Insider Buying for First Time in Years

Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL) had not witnessed any insider buying for quite some time until last week. Board member Hanno C. Fiedler purchased 7,000 shares on Friday at $71.77 apiece, which lifted his overall holding to 124,418 shares.

The supplier of metal packaging to the beverage, food, personal care and household products industries has seen its market value gain 10% in the past three months, but the stock continues to trade into negative territory for the year (down 1% year-to-date). Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL)’s net sales for the first quarter of 2016 were $1.76 billion, decreasing from $1.92 billion reported for the same quarter of 2015. The decrease in the company’s top-line results was mainly driven by the pass through of lower metal input costs, lower net pricing in China, currency headwinds and the completion of two U.S. government programs in the Aerospace segment. Higher metal beverage sales volumes partially offset the net sales decline. BlueCrest Capital Management, founded by Michael Platt and William Reeves, acquired a new stake of 63,926 shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL) during the January-to-March period.

This BDC Had a Cluster of Insider Buying Earlier this Week

To start with, President and Chief Executive Officer of Triangle Capital Corporation (NYSE:TCAP), E. Ashton Poole, bought 26,300 shares on Monday at a weighted average price of $17.81, boosting his direct ownership to 170,083 shares. Mr. Poole also reported two additional purchases of 1,150 shares each, which are held by spouse separately for son and daughter. Moreover, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary Steven C. Lilly snapped up 6,000 units of common stock on the same day for $17.64 each, lifting his ownership to 249,620 units. Last but not least, Chief Investment Officer Brent P. W. Burgess bought 6,000 shares on Monday at a cost of $17.25 per share, which lifted his stake to 235,521 shares.

The shares of the business development company (BDC) that provides capital to lower middle market companies are 12% in the red in the past five trading sessions, after the company slashed its quarterly cash dividend to $0.45 per share from $0.54. This was the first dividend decrease since the BDC went public in 2007, which did surprise most market participants. The $0.45 quarterly cash dividend equates to a hefty current annual dividend yield of 12.51%. Bruce Silver’s Silver Capital Management LLC owns 80,048 shares as of March 31.