Corporate Execs Are Bulking Up On Duke Energy Corp (DUK), Apache Corporation (APA) & More

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Another stock making our list with a decent dividend yield is AvalonBay Communities Inc (NYSE:AVB), a $16 billion market cap residential real estate investment trust. REITs receive favorable tax treatment conditional on distributing a large share of taxable income to shareholders, which often results in competitive yields; Avalonbay’s is 3.5%. Of course, the company’s cash flows may be tied to strength in the real estate market and many investors may want to avoid that. Billionaire Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group recently reported a position of 1.2 million shares (find Griffin’s favorite stocks). The stock is down 13% in the last year.

Asset manager AllianceBernstein Holding LP (NYSE:AB) also meets our criteria with an insider buying 50,000 shares at an average price of $19.61 per share. For the past few quarters AllianceBernstein has paid out about 40 cents per share in dividends, and assuming that continues into the future then the dividend yield is quite high. However, the payout ratio- at least based on the company’s recent earnings results- is also high. On the other hand, the company has recorded large increases in earnings so far this year compared to a year ago and Wall Street analysts are optimistic enough about 2014 that the forward P/E is only 12.

The Wet Seal, Inc. (NASDAQ:WTSL) has struggled over the last several quarters, with only tiny profits in its past couple reports and losses prior to that, but at the end of August the company’s CEO was buying shares. The sell-side expects EPS to recover to 23 cents per share for the forward fiscal year, implying a forward earnings multiple of 16. Comp sales have been growing, though not particularly strongly. Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management was one significant shareholder of Wet Seal at the end of Q2 (research more stocks AQR owns).

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

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