Notable Insider Buys In The Past Week: Assured Guaranty, Red Rock Resorts, TerraForm Power

Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors.

An unloved yieldco saw a beneficial owner make a big buy.

A couple of companies saw insiders returning to increase their stakes.

Conventional wisdom says that insiders and 10% owners really only buy shares of a company for one reason — they believe the stock price will rise and they want to profit. So insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors, particularly during periods of uncertainty.

The following are some notable insider purchases reported in the past week, ahead of the new earnings reporting season.

TerraForm Power

TerraForm Power Inc TERP 10% owner Brookfield Asset Management stepped up to the buy window this past week. The firm picked up over 2.98 million shares of this clean power generation asset holder at $16.77 each last week. That transaction totaled about $50 million, and it brought the firm's stake to nearly 32.86 million shares.

Barclays said last week that it prefers other energy yieldcos to TerraForm Power. The stock closed most recently at $16.97 a share, above the asset manager's purchase price but down about 2% in the past week. The shares have traded as high as $18.48 in the past 52 weeks, but analysts anticipate the share price will go to $16.39.

Assured Guaranty

Assured Guaranty Ltd. AGO saw its chief investment officer add another 34,800 shares in the past week. At share prices ranging from $43.64 and $44.99, that totaled more than $1.54 million. It also followed that officer's purchase of 36,000 shares in the previous week.

Assured Guaranty completed its acquisition of BlueMountain Capital Management earlier this month. Assured Guaranty shares were trading at $45.54 each on last look, above the top of the latest purchase price range. The stock hit a 52-week high of $46.04 in the past week, and the consensus analyst price target is $55.25.

Red Rock Resorts

Two Red Rock Resorts Inc RRR directors returned for a few more indirect share purchases this past week. At $19.47 to $19.50 each, the more than 20,300 shares acquired most recently totaled over $396,600. These two directors and 10% owners picked up 50,000 shares in the previous week as well.

Shares of casino stocks saw a boost last week on renewed optimism for settlement of the trade war with China. Red Rock Resorts was last seen trading at $20.82 a share, so the above purchases appear to be well-timed. The 52-week trading range is $16.76 to $29.80, and the consensus analyst price target was $24.33 on last look.

See also: Large Amounts Of Insider Trading In Aprea Therapeutics Following IPO

Note that insiders at AstraZeneca plc AZN and Tailored Brands Inc TLRD reportedly were buying shares last week as well.

At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the mentioned equities.

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