Mild Insider Buying at Three Beleaguered U.S. Companies Ahead of ‘Brexit’

Tax Preparation Services Firm Sees Board Member Buy Shares

Liberty Tax Inc. (NASDAQ:TAX) also had a member of its boardroom buy some shares earlier this week. Director Robert M. Howard snatched up 1,000 Class A shares on Tuesday at $12.25 apiece. After the recent purchase, Mr. Howard currently owns 26,000 Class A Liberty Tax shares.

The mild insider buying comes shortly after the tax preparation services firm released its financial results for fiscal year 2016 that ended April 30. Liberty Tax Inc. (NASDAQ:TAX)’s revenue in fiscal 2016 was $173.43 million, up from $162.17 million recorded for the previous fiscal year. The company has been receiving dividends from its SiempreTax+ initiative, which is said to be one of the fastest growing tax preparation franchises. SiempreTax+, operating 144 offices during the 2016 tax season versus 57 during the 2015 season, specializes in tax return preparation for individuals and small businesses in the Hispanic market. Meanwhile, the number of customers served in company-owned and operated franchise offices declined by 3.8% to 2.16 million. Liberty Tax’s bottom line increased to $1.38 per diluted share from a much lower figure of $0.61 recorded a year ago.

Earlier this month, Liberty Tax’s boardroom approved a quarterly dividend of $0.16 per share, which yields an impressive 4.74% annually. There were four hedge funds tracked by our team invested in the company at the end of March, as compared to five registered at the end of December. The company’s stock is down 43% year-to-date. Royce & Associates, founded by Chuck Royce, was the owner of 700,128 shares of Liberty Tax Inc. (NASDAQ:TAX) at the end of the March quarter.

LPG Shipping Company Has Executives Pile Up Some Shares

Dorian LPG Ltd (NYSE:LPG) is yet another company registering insider buying ahead of the U.K.’s historic decision to leave the European Union. Alexander C. Hadjipateras, Executive Vice President of Business Development of Dorian LPG (USA) LLC, snapped up 3,000 shares on Thursday at a price tag of $7.22 per share, boosting his overall stake to 50,998 shares.

The liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) shipping company has seen its market capitalization plunge by 38% thus far in 2016. Dorian LPG Ltd (NYSE:LPG) owns and operates 22 large gas carriers, known as VLGCs, with each having a cargo-carrying capacity of more than 80,000 cubic meters. The company’s revenues for the year that ended March 31 were $289.2 million, a massive increase of $185.1 million relative to the previous year. The increase was mainly driven by $162.2 million additional revenues contributed by 16 newbuilding VLGCs delivered since the end of March of 2015. Meanwhile, the company’s bottom line increased to $129.69 million from a mere $25.26 million recorded a year ago.

The weaker-than-anticipated conditions in the liquefied petroleum gas shipping market has pushed Dorian’s forward PE multiple to only 6.6, meaningfully below the ratio of 16.5 for the S&P 500 gauge. Nine hedge funds from our system had equity investments in Dorian at the end of March, amassing 20% of the company’s total number of outstanding shares. Michael Lowenstein’s Kensico Capital had 8.01 million shares of Dorian LPG Ltd (NYSE:LPG) among its holdings on March 31.

Disclosure: None