MTS Systems Corporation (MTSC) and Two Other Companies with Insider Buying that Involves Two or More Insiders

Tejon Ranch Company (NYSE:TRC) has seen two insiders adding to their positions in the past month or so. To start with, President and Chief Executive Officer Gregory S. Bielli snapped up 1,000 shares on Friday at $20.02 apiece, which boosted his overall ownership to 19,486 shares. Furthermore, Dennis Atkinson, Senior Vice President of Agriculture and Water Resources, bought 10,337 shares on March 24 at a weighted average cost of $19.51, lifting his overall holding to 42,045 shares. Although the aforementioned insider buying is not necessarily a strong bullish signal, retail investors examining a possible investment in Tejon Ranch get green light from insiders assuming there are separate reasons this investment is attractive.

Tejon Ranch Company operates as a diversified real estate development and agribusiness company whose operations involve land planning and entitlement, land development, commercial sales and leasing, leasing of land for mineral royalties, water asset management and sales, grazing leases, income portfolio management, farming, and ranch operations. The company’s main asset represents 270,000 acres of contiguous, mostly underdeveloped land. Tejon Ranch’s total revenues and other income were $52.06 million in 2015, as compared to $52.29 million in 2014 and $46.35 million in 2013. Meanwhile, the company’s 2015 net income was $2.95 million, which dropped from $5.66 million in 2014. The massive decline in the company’s 2015 bottom-line figure was driven by a severe decline in mineral resource revenues due to depressed oil prices throughout 2015, a notable increase in corporate expenses related to pension and staffing costs, as well as a decline in pistachio revenues as a result of poor yields caused by the mild winter of 2015.

Shares of Tejon Ranch have declined 21% in the past 52 weeks, but have gained 6% since the beginning of this year. The number of hedgies tracked by Insider Monkey with positions in the company climbed to eight from six during the December quarter; those eight funds amassed almost one-fourth of the company’s outstanding common stock. Martin Whitman’s Third Avenue Management had 2.26 million shares of Tejon Ranch Company (NYSE:TRC) in its equity portfolio at the end of 2015.