Battered Heritage Insurance Holdings Inc. (HRTG) Has Four Insiders Buy Shares; Four Other Companies See Noteworthy Insider Trading

The CEO of U.S. Bond Insurer Buys Shares

The man in charge of Ambac Financial Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AMBC) bought some shares earlier this week as he has been buying consistently in the past several months. President and Chief Executive Officer Nader Tavakoli snapped up 21,574 shares on Monday for $16.22 each and 17,281 shares on the next day at $15.68 apiece. After the recent purchases, Mr. Tavakoli currently owns 234,742 shares. Let us remind you that earlier this year the U.S. bond insurer was under pressure from Canyon Capital Advisors LLC, a credit-focused hedge fund founded by Joshua Friedman and Mitchell Julis, that is said to have debt positions in securities insured by Ambac worth $376 million. The activist investor pressured Ambac Financial Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AMBC) to accelerate the settlement of $2 billion in insurance claims, but dropped its proxy fight against the company in mid-May after a number of large-scale shareholders said the proxy fight was counterproductive. Canyon also urged shareholders to vote against Ambac Board’s proposal on management compensation and numerous votes were gathered against this proposal (17.33 million votes for and 15.06 million votes against). Canyon Capital Advisors had 2.22 million shares of Ambac Financial Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AMBC) in its portfolio at the end of March.

Battered Property and Casualty Insurance Firm Witnesses Cluster of Insider Buying

Heritage Insurance Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRTG) had a cluster of insider buying this week, which involved four different corporate insiders. To begin with, Board member Panagiotis Apostolou bought 4,952 shares on Tuesday at prices varying from $12.31 to $12.33 per share, lifting his ownership to 160,000 shares. Nicholas George Pappas, another member of the company’s boardroom, snapped up 1,000 shares on Wednesday for $12.32 each, after which he owns 66,595 shares. More importantly, Chairman and CEO Bruce Lucas purchased 15,700 shares on Tuesday at prices ranging from $12.26 to $12.60 per share, which boosted his overall holding to 810,355 shares. Irini Barlas, yet another Director, bought a new stake of 4,200 shares on the same day at a price tag of $12.45 per share. The shares of the Florida-based property and casualty insurance holding company are down 43% year-to-date and are trading nearly their 52-week low of $12.00 hit in early May. Heritage Insurance Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRTG)’s disappointing first-quarter earnings report, released in early May, reflected the worst tornado losses in the company’s history. Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management owns 324,299 shares of Heritage Insurance Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRTG) as of March 31.