Welcome to edition 268 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying declined last week with insiders buying $118.14 million of stock compared to $174.82 million in the week prior. Selling on the other hand increased with insiders selling $2.25 billion of stock last week compared to $2.08 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 went up to 19.07. In other words, insiders sold more than 19 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 11.89. 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 August 7, 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. Colfax Corporation (CFX): $40.12

Director Mitchell P. Rales acquired 261,600 shares of this manufacturing and engineering company, paying $38.41 per share for a total amount of $10.05 million. Mr. Rales increased his stake by 2.60% to 10,321,361 shares with this purchase. 250,000 of these shares were purchased indirectly by Colfax Capital Corporation and 1,500 shares were purchased indirectly by Mr. Rales as custodian for his daughters.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Colfax Corporation here.

2. Sears Holdings Corporation (SHLD): $24.39

Shares of this department stores chain were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Chief Executive Officer Edward S. Lampert acquired 377,950, paying $20.90 per share for a total amount of $7.89 million. Mr. Lampert increased his stake by 1.35% to 28,383,471 shares with this purchase.
• 10% Owner Bruce R. Berkowitz acquired 13,800 shares, paying $20.75 per share for a total amount of $286,322.

It is interesting to see Mr. Lampert join Mr. Berkowitz in purchasing shares of Sears. We have seen Sears rally strongly following Mr. Lampert’s purchases in the past but the stock then settles lower following disappointing operating performance at Sears.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Sears Holdings Corporation here.

3. Aon plc (AON): $101.32

Director Lester B. Knight acquired 75,000 shares of this risk management, HR services and insurance company, paying $100.79 per share for a total amount of $7.56 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Aon plc here.

4. Virtu Financial, Inc. (VIRT): $20.99

Executive Chairman Vincent J. Viola acquired 200,000 shares of this high frequency trading firm, paying $20.66 per share for a total amount of $4.13 million.

The firm made news when it filed its prospectus to go public and revealed that it only had a single losing day in more than 1,000 trading days. The company pulled its IPO last year following the release of Michael Lewis’ book about high frequency trading Flash Boys and instead went public earlier this year.

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

5. Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (EPD): $26.43

Shares of this midstream energy services provider were acquired by 6 insiders:

• Director James T. Hackett acquired 100,000 shares, paying $27.72 per share for a total amount of $2.77 million. Mr. Hackett increased his stake by 606.17% to 116,497 shares with this purchase.
• Chief Operating Officer Aj Teague acquired 35,925 shares, paying $28.38 per share for a total amount of $1.02 million. Mr. Teague increased his stake by 2.72% to 1,356,895 shares with this purchase. 12,600 of these shares were purchased indirectly by Mr. Teague’s spouse.
• Chief Administrative Officer W. Randall Fowler acquired 3,000 shares, paying $28.47 per share for a total amount of $85,406. Mr. Fowler increased his stake by 0.41% to 736,083 shares with this purchase.
• SVP & Chief Financial Officer Bryan F. Bulawa acquired 1,000 shares, paying $27.30 per share for a total amount of $27,300. Mr. Bulawa increased his stake by 0.91% to 110,291 shares with this purchase.
• Group Senior Vice President Gerald R. Cardillo acquired 600 shares, paying $28.55 per share for a total amount of $17,130. Mr. Cardillo increased his stake by 0.34% to 176,174 shares with this purchase.
• SVP, PAO, & Controller Michael J. Knesek acquired 167 shares, paying $26.25 per share for a total amount of $4,384. These shares were purchased indirectly by Mr. Knesek’s daughter.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Enterprise Products Partners L.P. here.

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN): $522.62

Shares of Amazon were sold by 4 insiders:

• Chairman, CEO and President Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 1,000,000 shares for $533.89, generating $533.89 million from the sale.
• Senior Vice President Jeffrey A. Wilke sold 3,750 shares for $534.39, generating $2 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.
• Director Tom A. Alberg sold 3,290 shares for $538.99, generating $1.77 million from the sale.
• Director William B. Gordon sold 500 shares for $537.90, generating $268,950 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Amazon.com Inc. here.

2. Proto Labs, Inc. (PRLB): $71.43

Director Lawrence J. Lukis sold 500,000 shares of this molded plastic parts producer and 3D printing company for $70.50, generating $35.25 million from the sale.

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

3. WisdomTree Investments, Inc. (WETF): $24.83

Shares of this asset management company were sold by 4 insiders:

• Director Michael H. Steinhardt sold 707,961 shares for $25.73, generating $18.22 million from the sale.
• Chief Financial Officer Amit Muni sold 475,000 shares for $25.46, generating $12.09 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Chief Investment Strategist Luciano Siracusano III sold 40,000 shares for $25.85, generating $1.03 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Director Anthony Bossone sold 6,672 shares for $25.99, generating $173,405 from the sale.

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

4. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL): $91.19

Shares of this cruise company were sold by 6 insiders:

• Chairman & CEO Richard D. Fain sold 151,032 shares for $90.38, generating $13.65 million from the sale.
• EVP, Maritime Harri U. Kulovaara sold 11,534 shares for $90.50, generating $1.04 million from the sale.
• SVP, Chief Accounting Officer Henry L. Pujol sold 7,474 shares for $89.07, generating $665,741 from the sale.
• President & CEO, Azamara Club Cruises Lawrence R. Pimentel sold 7,000 shares for $91.00, generating $637,000 from the sale. 2,000 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• President, Chief Operating Officer Adam M. Goldstein sold 4,184 shares for $91.08, generating $381,094 from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• SVP, GC & Chief Compliance Officer Bradley H. Stein sold 2,402 shares for $91.07, generating $218,749 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. here.

5. Twitter, Inc. (TWTR): $27.04

Shares of Twitter were sold by 4 insiders:

• Director Evan Clark Williams sold 372,000 shares for $29.21, generating $10.86 million from the sale. 349,680 of these shares were sold indirectly through various trusts.
• Senior VP, Product Kevin Weil sold 18,623 shares for $29.74, generating $553,829 from the sale.
• General Counsel Vijaya Gadde sold 11,720 shares for $29.74, generating $348,575 from the sale.
• Senior VP, Engineering Alexander Roetter sold 6,630 shares for $27.72, generating $183,773 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.

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