Insider buying increased last week with insiders buying $226.99 million of stock compared to $45.88 million in the week prior. Selling also increased with insiders selling $594.85 million of stock last week compared to $442.94 million in the week prior. A large part of the insider buying this week was on account of Carl Icahn purchasing a large position in liquefied natural gas company Cheniere Energy (LNG).

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 to 2.62. In other words, insiders sold almost 3 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 9.65. 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:

1. AGCO Corporation (AGCO): $44.02

Director Mallika Srinivasan acquired 247,390 shares of this farm & construction machinery company, paying $45.73 per share for a total amount of $11.31 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Chennai, India based TAFE Motors and Tractors Limited.

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

2. Southern Copper Corp. (SCCO): $27.61

Chairman of the Board German Larrea Velasco acquired 150,000 shares of this copper mining company, paying $25.85 per share for a total amount of $3.88 million. Mr. Velasco increased his stake by 7.81% to 2,070,567 shares with this purchase.

With copper prices close to a six year low, Mr. Mota-Velasco has purchased large quantities of Southern Copper stock over the last year. This Mexican mining mogul has obviously been early in expecting an end to this commodities bear market. Considering he has been the Chairman of the company since 1999, he has probably seen the behavior of commodity prices over several business cycles.

Despite low copper prices, the company remains solidly profitable and its balance sheet is not as leveraged as some of its peers.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Southern Copper Corp. here.

3. Opko Health, Inc. (OPK): $9.1

CEO & Chairman Phillip Frost M.D. acquired 722,900 shares of this medical devices and drug development company, paying $8.54 per share for a total amount of $6.17 million. These shares were acquired indirectly by Frost Gamma Investments Trust.

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

4. MasTec, Inc. (MTZ): $16.22

Director Jorge Mas acquired 117,700 shares of this infrastructure construction company, paying $15.81 per share for a total amount of $1.86 million.

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

5. Patriot National, Inc. (PN): $16.11

President and Chief Executive Officer Steven M. Mariano acquired 60,652 shares of this insurance industry services provider, paying $15.77 per share for a total amount of $956,302. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Accenture plc (ACN): $99.39

Shares of this management and technology consulting company were sold by 8 insiders:

• Chairman & CEO Pierre Nanterme sold 23,722 shares for $96.55, generating $2.29 from the sale.
• Group Chief Exec-Products Noordende Van’t sold 5,278 shares for $96.65, generating $510,099 from the sale.
• Chief Financial Officer David Rowland sold 5,178 shares for $96.58, generating $500,073 from the sale.
• Group Chief Executive-Fin Serv Richard Lumb sold 3,250 shares for $97.36, generating $316,424 from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Mr. Lumb’s spouse.
• Group Chief Exec-North America Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,105 shares for $96.66, generating $203,465 from the sale.
• Chief Human Resources Officer Ellyn Shook sold 1,600 shares for $96.57, generating $154,518 from the sale.
• Grp Chief Exec-Com, Med & Tech Robert E. Sell sold 863 shares for $96.73, generating $83,479 from the sale.
• Chief Accounting Officer Richard P. Clark sold 718 shares for $96.61, generating $69,368 from the sale.

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

2. Apollo Global Management, LLC (APO): $17.9

Senior Managing Director Marc J. Rowan sold 216,922 shares of this investment manager for $17.65, generating $3.83 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by MJR Foundation LLC.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Apollo Global Management, LLC here.

3. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (EL): $81.23

President and CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 35,386 shares of this personal products company for $80.02, generating $2.83 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. here.

4. Parsley Energy, Inc. (PE): $16.27

Shares of this independent oil and natural gas company were sold by 2 insiders:

• Vice President-Operations Paul Treadwell sold 150,000 shares for $15.62, generating $2.34 million from the sale.
• Vice President-Land Mike Hinson sold 20,000 shares for $16.06, generating $321,200 from the sale.

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

5. Forest City Enterprises Inc. (FCEA): $20.49

Shares of this property management company were sold by 2 insiders:

• Chairman of the Board Charles A. Ratner sold 80,600 shares for $20.17, generating $1.63 million from the sale.
• Executive Vice President James A. Ratner sold 37,000 shares for $20.16, generating $745,920 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Forest City Enterprises Inc. here.

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