Brian Ferraioli, a director at Vistra Corp (VST), recently picked up 8,050 shares. The buy increased his holdings by nearly 12 percent, and came to a total purchase price of just over $181,000.
The buy came three days after the company president and CEO picked up 32,000 shares for just over $547,000. Over the past three years, company insiders have been active as both buyers and sellers, with buyers having a slight edge over that time period.
Overall, insiders at the company own about 0.3 percent of shares.
Shares of the utility are up about 25 percent over the past year, in contrast to a 13 percent decline in the S&P 500. Revenue has been slightly flat over the past year, and the company has just been profitable in the most recent quarter.
Action to take: Shares trade for about 15 times forward earnings, a reasonable valuation for a utility stock. The company is defensive in nature, so it may underperform in a bull market, but is ideal for current market conditions. It’s also a dividend growth play, with a starting yield of just over 3.1 percent right now.
For traders, the October $25 calls, last going for about $1.15, can leverage a further uptrend in shares in the coming weeks. Traders can likely grab mid-double-digit gains on the option.
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.