Insider Activity Adds Steam to Royalty Rally

• By the tickerspy.com Staff
• On 11:40 am EDT, Wednesday September 9, 2009

Insider buying and surging natural gas prices helped royalty trusts on Wednesday.

The Wall Street Journal profiled XTO Energy (NYSE: XTO - News) chairman Bob Simpson as a corporate-insider stock trading whiz on Wednesday, and noted his latest interest in Hugoton Royalty Trust (NYSE: HGT - News). Simpson has been picking up units (shares) of the Dallas-based natural gas play, most recently upping his stake by just under 40% in late August at a price of $14.19, according to Princeton, NJ-based InsiderScore. This news, paired with a 4% rally in October natural gas contracts, is helping Hugoton move higher by 7% today.

Despite its impressive rally, Hugoton is not the biggest mover in the Royalty Trusts Index. That title is claimed by Wilmington, Deleware-based Torch Energy Royalty Trust (NYSE: TRU - News), which is ahead by 17% on the day.

As a whole, the Index is up by 3% today, and impressive gains from Permian Basin Royalty Trust (NSYE: PBT) and San Juan Basin Royal (NYSE: SJT - News) have helped offset losses from Dominion Resources Black Warrior Trust (NYSE: DOM - News) and North European Oil Royalty Trust (NYSE: NRT - News) over the last month. Royalty trusts are currently outperforming the S&P 500 fractionally for the period.

The dollar is trading near its lows for the year, but so far that hasn't done much to help natural gas prices. Today's jump for the commodity comes after hitting seven-year lows last week. Meanwhile oil is adding to Tuesday's rally, pushing back towards the $72 mark.

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