Jonathan Heller, a director at CBL & Associates Properties (CBL), recently bought 100,000 shares. The buy increased his position by nearly 1,200 percent. The buy came to a total cost of $3.225 million.
This marks the first insider buy since last November, when a different director picked up nearly $260,000 of shares. Otherwise, company insiders have generally been sellers of shares, albeit in smaller quantities.
Insiders at the company own 0.3 percent of shares.
Shares of the retail REIT have performed about in-line with the overall S&P 500 since the stock exited bankruptcy in late 2021. While the company hasn’t been profitable in the past year, revenue is up about 16 percent. CBL has 106 properties with over 65.7 million square feet in 25 states, with a focus on outlet and open-air retailers.
Action to take: Investors may like shares here, as retail spending has held up strong even amid recent economic headwinds. The company doesn’t yet pay a dividend. But, being structured as a REIT, as it returns to profitability, it will likely restore a payout in time.
Options aren’t available on shares yet, given the limited trading history following the company’s exit from bankruptcy. So options traders might want to look at other retail REITs for a similar 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.