High-Dividend REIT Registers More Insider Buying, Plus Four Other Companies With Noteworthy Insider Transactions

The insider purchases conducted by famous CEOs such as James Dimon of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) usually receive the most publicity, but individual purchases made by top-tier executives may be less informative than clusters of insider buying that involve three or more insiders. That’s right, retail investors seeking to get the most of insider trading metrics should look for clusters of insider buying. While these clusters are no common occurrence, Insider Monkey usually reveals such collections of buying in our almost daily insider trading articles. But why would anyone bother to have a look at insider buying at all? One should keep in mind that most directors and executives receive shares as part of their compensation packages, which makes us believe that insiders buy shares on the open market because they want more undervalued shares poised to appreciate over time. Put it differently, the increased usage of equity-based compensation has somewhat increased the significance of insider buying. With that in mind, the following article will examine several insider purchases recently registered at three companies, as well as some insider selling recorded at two other companies.

Academic research has shown that certain insider purchases historically outperformed the market by an average of seven percentage points per year. This effect is more pronounced in small-cap stocks. Another exception is the small-cap stock picks of hedge funds. Our research has shown that imitating the 15 most popular small-cap stocks among hedge funds outperformed the market by nearly a percentage point per month between 1999 and 2012 (read more details here).

This Provider of Property and Casualty Insurance and Reinsurance Had CEO Buy Shares This Week

John Charman, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:ENH)’s Board, purchased 75,000 shares on Tuesday for $67.65 each and 85,000 shares on Wednesday at $68.04 apiece. All these shares are held by Dragon Global Holdings Ltd., which currently owns 1.68 million shares. Mr. Charman also holds a direct ownership stake of 971,255 shares, which was lifted after the CEO exercised 160,000 stock options at an exercise price of $48.20 on Wednesday.

The writer of specialty lines of property and casualty insurance and reinsurance has seen its market capitalization rise 7% thus far in 2016. Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:ENH)’s gross premiums written for the first three months of 2016 were $1.61 billion, which marked an increase of 23.8% year-over-year. The shares of the company are currently trading at around 10.5-times expected earnings, below the forward P/E multiple of 13.1 for the property and casualty insurance segment. Ric Dillon’s Diamond Hill Capital upped its stake in Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:ENH) by 12% during the January-to-March period to 948,305 shares.

On the next pages of this article we will discuss the recent insider trading activity registered at four other companies.

This High-Dividend REIT Has Seen Its President Buy Massive Block of Shares This Week

New York Mortgage Trust Inc. (NASDAQ:NYMT) saw one of its most informed executives buy big this May. President Kevin M. Donlon bought 203,396 shares on Tuesday at prices varying from $5.82 to $5.95 per share, after he bought an additional 251,600 shares since mid-May. After the recent purchase, Mr. Donlon currently owns 460,996 shares.

The real estate investment trust that acquires, finances and manages mortgage-related assets and financial assets has seen the price of its shares appreciate 13% since the beginning of the year. In mid-March, New York Mortgage Trust Inc. (NASDAQ:NYMT)’s Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.24 per share, which equates to an impressive current dividend yield of 15.89%. The REIT’s net interest income for the first quarter of 2016 decreased to $17.64 million from $21.60 million, primarily due to the sale of collateralized loan obligation securities in the second quarter of the prior year. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Advisors LLC reported ownership of 249,016 shares of New York Mortgage Trust Inc. (NASDAQ:NYMT) in its latest 13F.

This Provider of Communication Services Saw Its CEO Buy Shares This Week

West Corp (NASDAQ:WSTC) recently registered the first insider purchase at the company in 2016. Chief Executive Officer Thomas B. Baker snapped up 25,000 shares on Tuesday at prices that fell between $21.06 and $21.17 per share. After the recent purchase, Mr. Baker currently holds a stake of 1.39 million shares.

The shares of the provider of technology-enabled communication services are up 2% so far in 2016. West Corp (NASDAQ:WSTC)’s revenue for the first three months of 2016 rose $5.3 million year-over-year to $570.8 million. The increase in the company’s top-line figure was mainly driven by a series of acquisitions, including Synrevoice, ClientTell, Magnetic North and SharpSchool. In mid-March, West Corporation completed the acquisition of almost all Synrevoice’s assets for roughly $9.3 million. The acquired company operates as a provider of messaging and notification services to the K-12 education and commercial markets in North America. D.E. Shaw & Co. L.P., founded by David E. Shaw, had 266,260 shares of West Corp (NASDAQ:WSTC) in its equity portfolio at the end of March.

This Supplier of Aggregates Products Had Its Former CEO Sell Shares This Week

Martin Marietta Materials Inc. (NYSE:MLM) saw its former Chief Executive Officer sell shares earlier this week. Board member Stephen P. Zelnak offloaded 17,000 shares on Wednesday at a price of $187.75 per share, cutting his overall holding to only 19,689 shares. Under the stewardship of Mr. Zelnak, the business grew from a $140 million subsidiary into a $2.2 billion company, so he clearly knows all the ins and outs of this company’s business.

The shares of the supplier of aggregates products and heavy building materials for the construction industry are up 135% in the past five years and up 35% in 2016 alone, so the former CEO may be seeking to take some profits off the table. Martin Marietta Materials Inc. (NYSE:MLM) posted record consolidated net sales of $734.0 million for the first three months of 2016, which increased by 16.2% year-over-year. The company’s earnings per diluted share for the quarter were $0.69, up from $0.07 per share reported a year ago. Tom Russo’s Gardner Russo & Gardner has 2.10 million shares of Martin Marietta Materials Inc. (NYSE:MLM) among its pool of holdings as of March 31.

This Developer of Technology Solutions Registered Some Insider Selling This Week

Barry F. Cohen, the Executive Vice President of Strategy at PTC Inc. (NASDAQ:PTC), discarded 30,000 shares on Tuesday at prices ranging from $35.62 to $35.99 per share. The EVP continues to own a stake of 103,368 shares.

The developer of technology solutions has seen its stock gain 3% since the beginning of the year. The company’s total revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2016 that ended April 2 decreased to $272.6 million from $314.1 million. The decline in PTC Inc. (NASDAQ:PTC)’s revenue figure was mainly attributable to the company’s transition from selling perpetual licenses to a subscription-based licensing model, as well as due to its strategy to migrate more service engagements to its partners. The company’s subscription bookings as a share of license and subscription bookings increased to 54% in the second quarter from 28% in the first quarter of fiscal 2016 and from a mere 14% in the second quarter of fiscal 2015. Ricky Sandler’s Eminence Capital was the owner of 3.10 million shares of PTC Inc. (NASDAQ:PTC) at the end of the first quarter.

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