Freeport-McMoRan, Glu Mobile And Others Insiders Have Been Buying

With the markets still near all-time highs after a long bull run, investors have had to get more selective when it comes to stocks. As Barron's recently pointed out, insider buying can be an encouraging signal. Conventional wisdom says that insiders and beneficial owners really only buy shares of a company for one reason -- they believe the stock price will rise and they want to profit from it. Recently, the most significant insider buys have been of the likes of American Homes 4 Rent, Freeport-McMoRan and Glu Mobile.

American Homes 4 Rent

One director has been buying up shares since March. So far in June that director bought almost 815,000 American Homes 4 Rent AMH shares at prices ranging from $16.77 to $16.87. That came to more $13.72 million. The total stake is now more than 3 million shares. This Malibu-based real estate investment trust has a market capitalization near $3.5 billion and a dividend yield of about 1.2 percent. Strong revenue growth is predicted for the current quarter and the full year, but note that the return on equity is in the red. Shares ended last week at $16.48. See also: Will Jorge Paulo Lemann Buy Diageo? Shares Rocket On Rumor

Associated Banc-Corp

The CEO, the CFO, other executives and two directors accumulated a total of more than 53,000 shares of this Green Bay, Wisconsin-based bank holding company last week. At $25.00 per share, that was worth $1.34 million. This was in the wake of the resolution to a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development investigation. The market cap of Associated Banc Corp ASB is around $3 billion, and the dividend yield is about 2.1 percent. The operating margin is greater than the industry average. The share price hit a multiyear high on Friday and closed at $19.75.

Freeport-McMoRan

As copper prices retreated from year-to-date highs in May, and with the share price pulling back as well, the vice chairman of the board purchased 60,000 Freeport-McMoRan Inc FCX at $20.52 apiece. Last week's transaction cost him around $1.23 million. This Phoenix, Arizona-based natural resource company has a market cap of more than $20 billion and a dividend yield near 1.0 percent. Here too the return on equity is in the red, but the long-term earnings per share (EPS) growth forecast is about 12 percent. Shares ended Friday's trading session at $19.65.

Glu Mobile

Tencent Holdings acquired 8.5 million shares of Glu Mobile Inc. GLUU, bringing its total stake to 21 million shares, in accordance with a previously announced investment plan. Last week's purchase totaled $51 million, at $6.00 per share. Glu Mobile's market cap is around $810 million. The long-term EPS growth forecast of this San Francisco-based game maker is less than 5 percent, but the operating margin is greater than the industry average. The stock closed Friday at $6.71, so a well-timed by by Tencent.

Martin Marietta

One Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. MLM director recently bought more than 31,000 shares. At prices ranging from $150.16 to $151.45 per share, that came to more than $4.69 million. The transactions came as shares backed off of a recent multiyear high. This $10 billion market cap construction materials company has a long-term EPS growth forecast of about 11 percent and a dividend yield of about 1.1 percent. Continuing the recent slide, shares closed at $148.10 on Friday. The stock is up more than 34 percent since the beginning of the year. See also: Electric Dump Trucks? Tesla Co-Founder Says Yes

Tutor Perini

The chairman and CEO has purchased more than 133,000 shares of Tutor Perini Corp TPC at prices ranging from $20.94 to 22.61. That cost him more than $2.32 million. The transactions followed the annual shareholders meeting. This diversified general contractor has a market cap of a little over $1 billion. The price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is higher than the industry average, and the long-term EPS growth forecast is about 12 percent. Shares were changing hands at $22.88 on Friday's close, after rising more than 10 percent last week. At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the mentioned equities. Keep up with all the latest breaking news and trading ideas by following Benzinga on Twitter.