Welcome to edition 264 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying declined last week with insiders buying $87.6 million of stock compared to $140.28 million in the week prior. Selling on the other hand increased a little with insiders selling $373.29 million of stock last week compared to $355.34 million 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 went up to 4.26. In other words, insiders sold more than 4 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 2.53. 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.

Insider Sell Buy Ratio July 10, 2015

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:

1. Energy Transfer Equity, L.P. (ETE): $65.4

Director Kelcy L. Warren acquired 1,000,000 shares of this natural gas pipeline company, paying $63.04 per share for a total amount of $63.04 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Seven Bridges Holdings, LLC.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Energy Transfer Equity, L.P. here.

2. Calamos Asset Management Inc. (CLMS): $12.04

Chairman, CEO, Global Co-CIO John P. Calamos Sr. acquired 101,646 shares of this asset management company, paying $12.08 per share for a total amount of $1.23 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Calamos Investments LLC.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Calamos Asset Management Inc. here.

3. Layne Christensen Company (LAYN): $8.5

Director Nelson Obus acquired 104,315 shares of this water management, construction and drilling company, paying $8.25 per share for a total amount of $860,582. Mr. Obus increased his stake by 140.04% to 178,807 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Layne Christensen Company here.

4. International Speedway Corp. (ISCA): $35.5

Shares of this motorsports company were acquired by two insiders:

• Director Hyatt J. Brown acquired 10,000 shares, paying $34.77 per share for a total amount of $347,700. Mr. Brown purchased these shares indirectly with his spouse.
• Director Laree M. Renda acquired 7,100 shares, paying $34.83 per share for a total amount of $247,293.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for International Speedway Corp. here.

5. Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (AMBC): $18.52

Shares of this insurance company were acquired by 3 insiders:

• Interim Chief Executive Officer Tavakoli Nader acquired 15,000 shares, paying $16.54 per share for a total amount of $248,061.
• Director Alexander David Greene acquired 3,000 shares, paying $17.69 per share for a total amount of $53,070.
• Director Jeffrey Scott Stein acquired 2,500 shares, paying $17.99 per share for a total amount of $44,975.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Ambac Financial Group, Inc. here.

You can view the full list of purchases from this Insider Buying page.

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Nuance Communications, Inc. (NUAN): $16.83

Chief Executive Officer Paul Ricci sold 800,000 shares of this software company for $16.75, generating $13.4 million from the sale. 300,000 of 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 Nuance Communications, Inc. here.

Voluntary Disclosure: I hold a long position in Nuance.

2. Twitter, Inc. (TWTR): $34.91

Shares of Twitter were sold by 2 insiders:

• Director Evan Clark Williams sold 372,000 shares for $34.97, generating $13 million from the sale. 349,680 of these shares were sold indirectly through various trusts.
• Senior VP, Engineering Alexander Roetter sold 7,013 shares for $35.50, generating $248,957 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Twitter, Inc. here.

Voluntary Disclosure: I hold a long position in Twitter.

3. HFF, Inc. (HF): $44.51

Shares of this financial services company were sold by 2 insiders:

• Chief Executive Officer Mark Gibson sold 91,550 shares for $42.88, generating $3.93 million from the sale.
• President Joe Thornton Jr. sold 79,700 shares for $42.90, generating $3.42 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for HFF, Inc. here.

4. Calavo Growers Inc. (CVGW): $52.05

Shares of this avocado and food products company were sold by 2 insiders:

• Chairman and CEO Lecil E. Cole sold 100,064 shares for $53.00, generating $5.3 million from the sale.
• Director Marc Laurence Brown sold 1,000 shares for $51.85, generating $51,850 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Calavo Growers Inc. here.

5. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (PANW): $180.8

CTO Nir Zuk sold 30,000 shares of this network security company for $170.66, generating $5.12 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Palo Alto Networks, Inc. here.

You can view the full list of sales from this Insider Sales page.