Insiders Are Buying These High Dividend Stocks

We track insider purchases because stocks bought by insiders tend to outperform market indices (see our analysis of studies on insider trading). While this is somewhat interesting on its own, the relationship becomes considerably stronger- though it still does not work in many cases- when considering stocks that multiple insiders, or a “consensus” are buying. Read more about consensus insider purchases. We looked through our database of insider trading filings to find some high yield stocks that insiders like, in case income investors think that insider purchases are an important enough signal to help them identify good stocks for further research. Here are five stocks that at least five different insiders have been buying in the last three months which pay dividend yields of over 5% at current prices:

Multiple insiders have bought shares of Inland Real Estate Corporation (NYSE:IRC), a real estate investment trust which owns shopping centers and other retail properties. See a history of insider buys at the company. Real estate investment trusts receive preferential tax treatment conditional on distributing a large share of the income to shareholders, and so tend to pay high dividend yields. Inland Real Estate is in line with this trend, with a yield of over 6% going by recent dividend payments and the current stock price. Of course, we’d expect the stock to have substantial exposure to retail activity in the U.S. and so prospective investors should look into that if they choose to do more research on the company.

Another real estate investment trust, Healthcare Trust Of America Inc (NYSE:HTA), also shows up as a high yield stock (the current dividend yield is between 5% and 6%) with multiple insiders buying in the last three months. As is suggested by the name, Healthcare Trust of America invests in medical office buildings and other healthcare facilities. While many of the individual insider purchases have been fairly small, there has been a good mix of buys from Board members and company officers at about $10 per share. We would note that the company is a recent IPO, going public in June 2012.

Three more high yield stocks that insiders have been buying, including NuStar: