Douglas Crocker, a director at Acadia Realty Trust (AKR), recently bought 28,250 shares. The buy increased his stake by 34 percent, and came to a total cost of $364,425.
This marks the first insider purchase at the company in over two years. Otherwise, company insiders have generally been sellers of shares. One director was a regular seller throughout 2022, and company executives have been modest sellers of shares after exercising stock options.
Overall, insiders own 0.7 percent of shares.
The retail-oriented real estate investment trust (REIT) is down about 30 percent over the past year. Real estate valuations have been under pressure thanks to rising interest rates, and the retail sector has been a long-term struggle.
Acadia saw revenues drop 3 percent last year, and earnings fell 20 percent, far less than the drop in shares.
Action to take: The drop in price has pushed the dividend up to 5.6 percent. Plus, the REIT trades for about three-quarters of its book value. So even a potential asset write-down is well priced in at this point, making shares a contrarian buy now.
For traders, Acadia has started to trade higher after trading flat over the past few weeks. The September $10 calls, trading for about $3.25, are about $3.25 in-the-money, and should see a further boost as shares move higher in the coming months.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any of the companies mentioned in this article.