Insiders Are Buying Tricon Capital Group

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Sep 14, 2013
One real estate asset manager has seen intensive insider buying during the last 30 days. Intensive insider buying can be defined by the following three criteria:

The stock is purchased by three or more insiders within one month.

The stock is sold by no insiders in the month of intensive purchasing.

At least two purchasers increase their holdings by more than 10%.

Tricon Capital Group (TSX:TCN, Financial) is a North American real estate asset manager and principal investor with a primary focus on the residential sector.

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Insider Buying During the Last 30 Days

  • David Berman purchased 135,573 shares on Aug. 13 to 21 and currently controls 4,313,228 shares or 4.8% of the company. David Berman is chairman and chief executive officer. David Berman increased his holdings by 3.2% in August.
  • Gary Berman purchased 8,100 shares on Aug. 13 and currently holds 645,578 shares or 0.7% of the company. Gary Berman is president and chief operating officer. Gary Berman increased his holdings by 1.3% in August.
  • John Knowlton purchased 5,000 shares on Aug. 13 and currently holds 15,000 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. John Knowlton serves as a director of the company. John Knowlton increased his holdings by 50% in August.
  • Geoffrey Matus purchased 143,621 shares on Aug. 13 to 21 and currently controls 1,393,766 shares or 1.5% of the company. Geoffrey Matus is co-founder & director. Geoffrey Matus increased his holdings by 11.5% in August.
  • Adrian Rocca purchased 8,000 shares on Aug. 13 and currently holds 8,000 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. Adrian Rocca is a senior officer of the company. Adrian Rocca increased his holdings from zero shares to 8,000 shares in August.
  • Aida Tammer purchased 8,000 shares on Aug. 13 and currently holds 13,000 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. Aida Tammer serves as a director of the company. Aida Tammer increased her holdings by 160% in August.
  • Tricon Capital Group purchased 5,000 shares on Aug. 30 and currently holds 5,000 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. Tricon Capital Group increased its holdings from zero shares to 5,000 shares in August.
Insider Buying by Calendar Month

Here is a table of Tricon's insider-trading activity by calendar month.

MonthInsider buying / sharesInsider selling / shares
August 2013313,2940
July 201300
June 201300
May 201300
April 201300
There have been 313,294 shares purchased and there have been zero shares sold by insiders since April 2013.

Financials

Tricon reported the second-quarter financial results on August 14 with the following highlights:

Revenue and investment income$12.7 million
Net income$12.4 million
Cash$16.8 million
Debt$134.2 million
Outlook

While the overall Canadian housing market remains relatively stable, notwithstanding a more onerous investment environment in Toronto, Tricon believes that there are better risk adjusted investment opportunities in the United States. As such, Tricon is well positioned to capitalize on the U.S. housing recovery through its exposure to residential land / new housing and its investments in U.S. single-family rental.

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Competition

Tricon's competitors include Killam Properties (TSX:KMP, Financial) and Mainstreet Equity Corp. (TSX:MEQ, Financial). Killam Properties has seen more insider buying than insider selling during the past six months. Killam Properties has a dividend yield of 5.5%. Mainstreet Equity has seen one insider sell transaction during the past six months.

Conclusion

There have been seven different insiders buying Tricon and there have not been any insiders selling Tricon during the last 30 days. Five of these seven insiders increased their holdings by more than 10%.

There are four analyst buy ratings, zero neutral ratings and zero sell ratings with an average target price of $8.10. Tricon has a dividend yield of 3.8%. I believe the stock could be a good pick at the current level based on the intensive insider buying.

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Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.