Insider Trading Report Edition 256: Notable Buys And Sales
Welcome to edition 256 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying almost doubled again last week with insiders buying $143.37 million of stock compared to $74.57 million in the week prior. Selling also increased with insiders selling $1.83 billion of stock last week compared to $1.04 billion in the week prior.
Sell/Buy Ratio: The insider Sell/Buy ratio is calculated by dividing the total insider sales in a given week by total insider purchases that week. The adjusted ratio for last week dropped down to 12.77. In other words, insiders sold almost 13 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 13.99. We are calculating an adjusted ratio by removing transactions by funds and companies and trying as best as possible only to retain information about insiders and 10% owners who are not funds or companies.
Note: As mentioned in the first post in this series, certain industries have their preferred metrics such as same store sales for retailers, funds from operations (FFO) for REITs and revenue per available room (RevPAR) for hotels that provide a better basis for comparison than simple valuation metrics. However metrics like Price/Earnings, Price/Sales and Enterprise Value/EBITDA included below should provide a good starting point for analyzing the majority of stocks.
Notable Insider Buys:
While the top 5 insiders purchases this week are worth checking out, there were a large number of other purchases that looked a whole lot more interesting but were not large enough to make the top 5 list. Some of them include a cluster of purchases by 6 insiders of car security company LoJack (LOJN) following the release of Q1 results last week, purchases by the CEO and the President of TrueCar (TRUE), a $1 million purchase by the President of single-family property REIT Altisource Residential (RESI) and purchases by two directors of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) following the big drop in the stock last week. The purchases by the insiders of LoJack were interesting to watch as they kept buying at ever higher prices. The stock is already up 49% since the company announced results on May 7th and the insider purchase filings started rolling in.
1. Chevron Corporation (CVX): $108.03
Director John G. Stumpf acquired 180,000 shares of this oil & gas company, paying $108.10 per share for a total amount of $19.46 million. Mr. Stumpf increased his stake by 9549.07% to 181,885 shares with this purchase.
As the Chairman and CEO of Wells Fargo (WFC), Mr. Stumpf took home $2.8 million in base pay last year. He also received a $4 million cash bonus and an additional $12.5 million in company stock, bringing his total pay for 2014 to $19.3 million. So this purchase represents more than 100% of his annual compensation and could signal confidence that the rebound in oil prices we have seen since mid-March could hold.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Chevron Corporation here.
P/E: 11.79 | Forward P/E: 17.17 | Industry P/E: 78.54 |
P/S: 1.16 | Price/Book: 1.3 | EV/EBITDA: 7 |
Market Cap: $203.15B | Avg. Daily Volume: 6,925,180 | 52 Week Range: $98.88 – $135.1 |
2. La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co. (LJPC): $19.75
Shares of this biotech company were acquired by 3 insiders:
- Director Kevin C. Tang acquired 190,583 shares, paying $18.24 per share for a total amount of $3.48 million. These shares were acquired indirectly by Tang Capital Partners, LP.
- President, CEO & Secretary George F. Tidmarsh acquired 4,000 shares, paying $18.37 per share for a total amount of $73,480. 2,000 of these shares were acquired indirectly by Mr. Tidmarsh’s children.
- Director Saiid Zarrabian acquired 307 shares, paying $19.50 per share for a total amount of $5,987. These shares were acquired indirectly for Mr. Zarrabian’s children.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co. here.
P/E: N/A | Forward P/E: N/A | Industry P/E: 14.67 |
P/S: N/A | Price/Book: 8.32 | EV/EBITDA: -9.59 |
Market Cap: $301.20M | Avg. Daily Volume: 151,779 | 52 Week Range: $6.17 – $24.89 |
3. Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NLY): $10.18
Chairman of Board & CEO Wellington Denahan acquired 198,216 shares of this mortgage REIT, paying $10.04 per share for a total amount of $1.99 million. Mr. Denahan increased his stake by 13.45% to 1,559,866 shares with this purchase.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Annaly Capital Management, Inc. here.
P/E: N/A | Forward P/E: 9.88 | Industry P/E: 12.05 |
P/S: 77.29 | Price/Book: 0.79 | EV/EBITDA: N/A |
Market Cap: $9.65B | Avg. Daily Volume: 7,869,960 | 52 Week Range: $9.75 – $11.95 |
4. Qualys, Inc. (QLYS): $38.61
Director Sandra E. Bergeron acquired 50,000 shares of this security and compliance services company, paying $37.51 per share for a total amount of $1.88 million. These shares were acquired indirectly by DBG Investments Inc.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Qualys, Inc. here.
P/E: 44.48 | Forward P/E: 55.96 | Industry P/E: N/A |
P/S: 9.3 | Price/Book: 8.06 | EV/EBITDA: 41.88 |
Market Cap: $1.31B | Avg. Daily Volume: 676,736 | 52 Week Range: $20.96 – $55.47 |
5. Avid Technology, Inc. (AVID): $16.31
Director Robert M. Bakish acquired 100,000 shares of this digital media software and hardware company, paying $15.33 per share for a total amount of $1.53 million. Mr. Bakish increased his stake by 35.10% to 384,886 shares with this purchase.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Avid Technology, Inc. here.
P/E: 113.26 | Forward P/E: 8.86 | Industry P/E: 60 |
P/S: 1.23 | Price/Book: N/A | EV/EBITDA: 20.69 |
Market Cap: $645.45M | Avg. Daily Volume: 376,933 | 52 Week Range: $12.02 – $16.89 |
You can view the full list of purchases from this Insider Buying page.
Notable Insider Sales:
1. Bank of the Ozarks, Inc. (OZRK): $42.03
Shares of this regional bank were sold by 3 insiders:
- Chairman & CEO George G. Gleason II sold 250,000 shares for $42.04, generating $10.51 million from the sale.
- Director Ross M. Whipple sold 115,600 shares for $40.64, generating $4.69 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by an LLP.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Bank of the Ozarks, Inc. here.
P/E: 25.46 | Forward P/E: 17.73 | Industry P/E: N/A |
P/S: 10.12 | Price/Book: 3.13 | EV/EBITDA: N/A |
Market Cap: $3.65B | Avg. Daily Volume: 443,036 | 52 Week Range: $28.3 – $42.84 |
2. GoPro, Inc. (GPRO): $50.09
Director Edward A. Gilhuly sold 474,500 shares of this action camera company for $50.32, generating $23.88 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by various entities.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for GoPro, Inc. here.
P/E: 55.78 | Forward P/E: 26.23 | Industry P/E: N/A |
P/S: 4.46 | Price/Book: 9.67 | EV/EBITDA: 28.53 |
Market Cap: $6.74B | Avg. Daily Volume: 6,136,330 | 52 Week Range: $28.65 – $98.47 |
3. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (PANW): $154.72
Shares of this network security company were sold by 2 insiders:
- CTO Nir Zuk sold 130,000 shares for $150.48, generating $19.56 million from the sale.
- President & CEO Mark D. McLaughlin sold 25,000 shares for $152.39, generating $3.81 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Palo Alto Networks, Inc. here.
P/E: N/A | Forward P/E: 99.82 | Industry P/E: N/A |
P/S: 17.11 | Price/Book: 24.5 | EV/EBITDA: -159.76 |
Market Cap: $12.73B | Avg. Daily Volume: 1,355,460 | 52 Week Range: $60.54 – $158.24 |
4. The Walt Disney Company (DIS): $110.3
Chairman and CEO Robert A. Iger sold 200,000 shares of Disney for $108.73, generating $21.75 million from the sale.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for The Walt Disney Company here.
P/E: 23.73 | Forward P/E: 19.49 | Industry P/E: 18.83 |
P/S: 3.68 | Price/Book: 4.06 | EV/EBITDA: 13.45 |
Market Cap: $187.15B | Avg. Daily Volume: 5,878,810 | 52 Week Range: $78.54 – $113.3 |
5. Western Gas Partners LP (WES): $69.12
Director James R. Crane sold 300,000 shares of this oil & gas pipelines company for $68.77, generating $20.63 million from the sale.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Western Gas Partners LP here.
P/E: 32.6 | Forward P/E: 30.45 | Industry P/E: N/A |
P/S: 7.52 | Price/Book: 2.5 | EV/EBITDA: 20.7 |
Market Cap: $9.58B | Avg. Daily Volume: 251,529 | 52 Week Range: $60.09 – $79.81 |
You can view the full list of sales from this Insider Sales page.
Disclosure: None