Cluster of Insider Buying at High-Yielding Mortgage REIT and Other Insider Trading Before Year-End

Insiders at Ethanol Company Sell Shares Near 52-Week High

Several insiders at REX American Resources Corp (NYSE:REX) have been offloading shares over the past several weeks, so let’s have a quick look at some recent insider selling. Stuart A. Rose, the Executive Chairman of the Board, discarded 2,300 shares on Tuesday through multiple transactions at prices that fell between $100.50 and $100.70 per share. Mr. Rose currently owns 590,276 shares following the transactions discussed above and a number of other transactions conducted last week. Board member Lawrence Tomchin liquidated 2,000 shares on Friday at $100 apiece and an additional 2,000 shares last Tuesday for $101 each, cutting his overall holding to 121,819 shares. Douglas L. Bruggeman, Chief Financial Officer, Vice President of Finance and Treasurer, sold 1,000 shares last Wednesday at a price tag of $102 per share. Mr. Bruggeman currently holds an ownership stake of 30,151 shares after last week’s transaction.

The ethanol company has seen its market capitalization increase by 84% since the beginning of the year. REX American Resources Corp (NYSE:REX)’s net sales and revenue for its fiscal third-quarter were around $116.3 million, up from $110.6 million recorded for the same period of its previous fiscal year. Ethanol sales increased to $90.7 million from $82.8 million, reflecting an increase of 5.5 million gallons sold. Meanwhile, dried distillers grains sales dropped to $19.6 million from $22.5 million, mainly due to a $24.30 decline in the price per ton sold. The decrease in the selling price mainly reflects uncertainty around Chinese imports of domestic dried distillers grains, as the China Ministry of Commerce announced an anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigation in January 2016 and imposed an anti-dumping tariff and a countervailing duty on U.S. dried distillers grains exports to China. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Advisors added a 31,039-share stake in REX American Resources Corp (NYSE:REX) to its pool of holdings during the third quarter.

Director at Forward Air Corporation Sells Shares Before Christmas

One member of Forward Air Corporation (NASDAQ:FWRD)’s Board disclosed the sale of a block of shares on Wednesday. Board member C. Robert Campbell discarded 4,000 shares on December 14 at a price tag of $47.78 per share. Following the not-so-distant sale, Mr. Campbell currently owns a total of 19,684 shares.

Forward Air Corporation (NASDAQ:FWRD) provides time-definite transportation services to the North American deferred air freight market, provides expedited truckload brokerage, dedicated fleet services and maximum security and temperature-controlled logistics services, offers container and intermodal drayage services, as well as provides pool distribution services. The shares of the company are 10% in the green this year. Forward Air Corporation’s top-line figure for the September quarter increased to $249.5 million from the slightly lower figure of $247.1 million recorded a year earlier. The 16 asset managers in our system that were invested in Forward Air at the end of the September quarter had accumulated around 13% of the company’s outstanding shares. Mariko Gordon’s Daruma Asset Management initiated a 753,525-share stake in Forward Air Corporation (NASDAQ:FWRD) during the September quarter.

Disclosure: None