Insider Buying Activity Supports Smart Money’s Stance on Two of These Three Stocks

Specialty rental services company General Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:GFN) is another company that saw high insider trading activity on the buy side. Director James B. Roszak purchased 5,000 shares at a price of $4.03 per unit, boosting his overall holding to 65,008 shares. The shares of the company have been on a steady downtrend for the whole year, declining by 58% year-to-date. However, the stock appears to be in a bottoming-out phase at the moment, so the Director might be betting on a turnaround. On September 8, General Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:GFN) released its financial results for the fiscal 2015, posting revenues of $303.8 million, which were up 6% year-over-year. However, the company’s bottom-line came at $3.5 million, down from $3.9 million reported a year ago. The average fleet utilization also declined year-over-year, decreasing to 80% from 81%. Of course, there might be more downside risk for the stock, but it has lost most of its value already. Thus, bottom-fishing investors might stumble upon good trading opportunities in connection with the stock. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies is one of the hedge funds tracked by our team that poured more cash into General Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:GFN) during the second quarter, amassing nearly 88,000 shares as of June 30.

Last but not least, we will take a thorough look at the insider trading activity at Layne Christensen Company (NASDAQ:LAYN). David A. B. Brown, who has been a director of Layne since 2003 and Chairman of the company’s Board since 2005, reported acquiring 10,000 shares on Wednesday at roughly $6.77 apiece, and currently owns 35, 213 shares. A recent 13D filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors and its affiliates own 2.12 million shares of the company, which account for 10.72% of its outstanding common stock. This marked an increase of exactly 50% from the stake revealed in the 13F filing for the June quarter. It is also worth pointing out what that the shares of Layne Christensen Company (NASDAQ:LAYN) have advanced 14% over the past month, which however are still 25% in the red year-to-date. The stock became more popular among the hedge funds monitored by our team, as the number of top money managers invested in Layne Christensen increased to 16 from 10 during the June quarter. These hedge funds stockpiled 37.20% of the company’s common stock on June 30. Aside from GAMCO Investors, Peter Schliemann’s Rutabaga Capital Management represents another top stockholder of Layne Christensen Company (NASDAQ:LAYN) with 2.18 million shares.

Disclosure: None