Vital Therapies Inc (VTL) and Natural Resource Partners LP (NRP): Insiders Buy These Stocks

When multiple insiders buy the stock of a company or a single insider buys large amount of a company’s stock, there is always huge chance that the stock will outperform its peers in the near future.  Two such companies, which recently have seen heavy buying from insiders are – Vital Therapies Inc (NASDAQ:VTL) and Natural Resource Partners LP (NYSE:NRP). Let’s uncover each of the insider trades in these companies in detail.

Natural Resource Partners LP (NYSE:NRP) is a $.15 billion market cap master limited partnership that owns and manages mineral reserves properties. On October 2, Corbin J Robertson Jr., Chairman and CEO of Natural Resource Partners LP (NYSE:NRP), and Corbin J. Robertson III, a director of the company, purchased over 270,000 shares and over 83,000 shares respectively at an average price of $12.02 per share. Accounting for these purchases, Corbin Jr. now owns more than 1.27 million shares directly and over 23 million shares indirectly, and Corbin III holds over 1.47 million shares directly and over 180,000 shares indirectly. Natural Resource Partners LP (NYSE:NRP) does not perform mining activity on the assets that it owns, but instead leases them to other entities for royalty payments. It declared net income per share of $0.28 for second quarter of 2014, compared to $0.37 for the same quarter last year. As of June 30, 2014 Chuck Royce’s Royce and associates owns around 263,000 shares of Natural Resource Partners LP (NYSE:NRP). Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies decreased its exposure in the stock by 51% to some 130,000 shares during the second quarter.

Vital Therapies Inc (NASDAQ:VTL) is a $355 million market cap, biotherapeutic company that is developing a cell-based system for the treatment of acute liver failure. On October 8, several directors and an officer of the company purchased its stock for an average price of $17.50 per share. The details of the transactions are as follow:

• Duane Nash (Executive Vice President, Chief Business Officer) bought 100 shares/ Total Stake: 9,324 shares
• Jacques Jean Bienaime (Director) – 4,286 shares/ Total Stake: 25,119 shares
• Errol R. Halperin (Director) – 5,476 shares/ Total Stake: 99,417 shares
• Evan Douglas Godshall (Director) – 2,857 shares/ Total  Stake: 69,375 shares
• Muneer A Satter (Director) – 74,286 shares/ Total Stake: Over 6.7 million shares
• Lowell Sears (Director) – 1,429 shares/ Total Stake: 58,572 shares

On October 2, Vital Therapies Inc (NASDAQ:VTL) announced pricing of its follow up public offering of 2 million shares at $17.5 per share. The company reported a negative EPS of $3.24 per share for the second quarter of 2014, compared to a negative EPS of $36.12 for the same period last year. In April this year, the company completed its IPO and sold 4.5 million common stock at an offering price of $12 per share, since then its stock is up by almost 25%.

Disclosure: None