Top Weekly Insider Buys Include International Flavors & Fragrances Inc (IFF), ProAssurance Corporation (PRA)

Overall insider buying was relatively muted last week as trade war fears continue to weigh on the market and the global economy. Broad insider buying activity provides valuable indications as to the level of optimism in the market among some of its savviest and most well-informed investors.

However, more important still is which specific companies’ shares were being bought. Last week, those companies included Terreno Realty Corporation (NYSE:TRNO), ProAssurance Corporation (NYSE:PRA), and International Flavors & Fragrances Inc (NYSE:IFF). We’ll take a look at those transactions below.

Alongside our tracking of insider trading activity, we also track the top consensus picks of the best performing hedge funds each quarter. This “Best Performing Hedge Funds Strategy” gained 4% last quarter vs. a loss of 1% for the S&P 500 ETF (SPY), and a further 7.6% so far in the second-quarter compared to a 0.9% loss for the SPY. Since its inception in May 2014 this strategy’s picks have returned 87.8% vs. 53.3% for the SPY. You can see our latest picks by trying our newsletters free of charge for 14 days.

Terreno Realty Corporation (NYSE:TRNO)

Who Bought Shares: Director Gabriela Parcella

How Many Shares Were Bought: 5,500 @ $37.97 per share

Date of the Transaction(s): June 12

The director’s purchase of 5,500 Terreno Realty Corporation (NYSE:TRNO) shares on June 12 lifted her ownership to 7,914 shares and marked the first purchase by one of the company’s insiders in over three years. Shares of Terreno Realty were down slightly in the first-quarter but have rebounded with gains of 10% in the second-quarter.

The industrial property owner boasts a portfolio of over 200 properties, including recent purchases in Renton, Washington and Newark, New Jersey for $6 million and $6.3 million respectively. Those 200+ properties were 97% leased as of the end of March. Terreno has benefited from strong rent growth on both new and renewed leases, with that figure rising by 12.5% in the first-quarter.

On the next page we’ll look at the insider buying activity at two other companies last week.