President and CEO Jim Thomas, of real estate company, Thomas
Properties Group (
TPGI
), has reported purchasing 43,400 shares of the company, reported
Jan.10 on
GuruFocus Insider Buys
.
The transaction totaled $229,152 at an average price of $5.28.
Thomas is an avid purchaser of his own company's shares. Since
2008, he has continuously increased his holding, buying 24
separate times and not selling once. Today, he has more than 3.1
million shares of Thomas Properties Group.
With a market cap of $319 million, Thomas Properties Group is a
Los Angeles-based company that owns, acquires, develops and
manages office properties, as well as mixed-use residential
properties nationwide. It focuses on acquiring and owning such
properties through strategic joint ventures, property
development, redevelopment, property management and leasing
activities.
Gurus who have stakes in the company include
Third Avenue Management
, who owns 16.63 percent of the Thomas Properties' outstanding
shares, followed by Manning & Napier advisors, who owns 1.18
percent of the company's outstanding shares.
CEO Thomas has served on the board since the company was
organized in 2004 months before it became publicly traded in
October 2004. Thomas founded Thomas Property's predecessor
company, TPG in 1996, serving as Chairman and CEO.
Prior to founding TPG, Thomas was co-managing partner of real
estate operating company, Maguire Thomas, before Maguire divided
into two companies, thus forming TPG.
Besides its CEO, Thomas Property Group's insider activity is also
splashed with ongoing share reductions from co-Chief Operating
Officer, John Sischo, whose sells almost match the number of
times Thomas purchased company shares since 2008. Having reduced
his holding more than 20 times, Sischo has only reported
purchasing shares four times since that year. Sischo currently
has 282,692 shares. (
Market Overview
)
Thomas Properties Group stock currently trades at $6.49, up
almost 4 percent Monday afternoon. The company is rated 4 in
Financial Strength
and 2 in Profitability and Growth. In one year, the stock
increased 63.49 percent in market value, and 72.55 percent in
three years.
With a dividend yield of 1.5 percent, Thomas' final payout for
2012 was $0.02 per share of common stock, distributed in
November, which represented a 33 percent increase in its
quarterly dividend.
In recent news, Thomas Properties Group announced several days
before the year ended that it finalized its transfer of 49
percent partnership interest in Philadelphia-based 2121 Market
Street Associates. Totaling two transactions, the net proceeds
came up to $12 million.
"We intend to use these proceeds as part of our new corporate
strategy of investing in both new and existing assets that
generate current cash flow and are consistent with our core
business of owning and managing first class office buildings" Mr.
Thomas said.
Besides serving as management for real estate companies, CEO
Thomas has also served as chief executive and owner of the
Sacramento Kings NBA basketball team, from 1992 to 1999.
To see Jim Thomas' full list of trades, visit his GuruFocus
Market Overview
page.
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