MGM, Red Rock Insiders Buy Stocks Amid Slumps

High-ranking executives at MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) and Red Rock Resorts (NASDAQ: RRR) are buying shares in their companies as the stocks slump.

New filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) indicate at least three high-level MGM executives recently added to their stakes in the casino operator. Chairman Paul Salem scooped up 147,500 shares while CEO Bill Hornbuckle purchased 58,900 shares. CFO Jonathan Halkyard bought 10,000 shares. Combined, the trio’s buying amounted to $8.5 million.

As of the close of US markets today, shares of MGM resided 24.47% below the 52-week high. A decline of 20% from the most recent high is considered a bear market. The stock is also lower by 15.20% over the past week and down 18.44% year-to-date.

Fertitta Brothers Buy 200K Shares of Red Rock

MGM isn’t the only gaming company in which insiders have recently been gobbling up shares. Recent SEC filings indicate Red Rock Resorts CEO Frank Fertitta bought 134,000 shares while his brother Lorenzo bought 66,000 shares. Lorenzo is also vice president and a director at the gaming company. Red Rock isn’t as badly battered as some other gaming stocks as the shares are off 5.74% over the past week and 3.74% over the past month.

Following those buys, Lorenzo owns 47.51 million shares of Red Rock while his brother Frank owns 45.98 million, according to Form 4 filings with the SEC.

The insider buying at MGM and Red Rock is encouraging because for most of this year, there’s been little of it across the gaming industry. Earlier this year, there was modest buying by some insiders at Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ: CZR), but not much else to speak in terms of related activity across the gaming equity spectrum.

However, there has been evidence of insider selling at some gaming companies. In a three-week stretch spanning late February into March, insiders at Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD), including members of the Boyd family, sold approximately $53.4 million worth of the Orleans operator’s shares. Those sales were made in advance of the company’s first-quarter earnings report – one that sent the stock tumbling.

MGM, Red Rock Insider Buying Could Be Positive Sign

While corporate insiders sell shares of their employer’s stock for a variety of reasons, not all of which are negative, insider buying is usually viewed as a bullish signal.

Purchases of a company’s shares by board members and executives is both legal and viewed as a positive sign by analysts and investors.

High-ranking execs and directors buy stock for one reason: because they believe the shares will increase in value. Wall Street views legal insider trading as a positive sign because the analyst and investor communities like knowing C-level executives and directors have “skin in the game.”