Insider Weekends – Leucadia Adds to its Fiesta Restaurant Stake

Welcome to edition 351 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying increased with insiders buying $93.85 million of stock compared to $57.94 million in the week prior. Selling also increased with insiders selling $2.89 billion of stock last week compared to $2.1 billion in the week prior. $885.75 million of those sales were by Snap (SNAP) insiders selling in the IPO.

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 30.87. In other words, insiders sold almost 31 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 36.19.

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. Navistar International Corporation (NAV): $26

10% Owner Carl C. Icahn acquired 423,404 shares of truck and diesel engine manufacturer, paying $25.28 per share for a total amount of $10.83 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Icahn Partners LP.

We normally exclude insider purchases by 10% owners but decided to make an exception in this case. We have been seeing both Mr. Icahn and his ex-Protege Mark Rachesky purchase shares of Navistar since 2012.

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

2. Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc. (FRGI): $21.7

Director Brian P. Friedman acquired 347,000 shares of this restaurant chain, paying $20.82 per share for a total amount of $7.22 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Leucadia National Corporation.

This is the second week in a row Leucadia has purchased shares of Fiesta Restaurant Group. We wrote the following after the prior purchase,

Mr. Friedman was the Chair of the Execute Committee at Jefferies before its acquisition by Leucadia in March 2013 and became the President of Leucadia following the acquisition. Mr. Friedman also served as President of Jefferies Capital Partners, a private equity fund management company controlled by Mr. Friedman in which Jefferies has an ownership interest.

In mid-2013, Mr. Friedman sold over $33 million of Fiesta Restaurant Group stock indirectly through Jefferies Capital Partners at an average price of $35.34. It is interesting to see Mr. Friedman purchase shares of Fiesta at much lower prices during this downturn in the fast casual dining industry.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc. here.

3. Drive Shack Inc. (DS): $4.18

Director Wesley R. Edens acquired 1,000,000 shares of this operator of golf related properties, paying $4.20 per share for a total amount of $4.2 million. Mr. Edens increased his stake by 46.69% to 3,142,000 shares with this purchase. 500,000 of these shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Drive Shack Inc. here.

4. American Assets Trust, Inc. (AAT): $41.18

Chairman, CEO & President Ernest S. Rady acquired 80,177 shares of this diversified REIT, paying $42.07 per share for a total amount of $3.37 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by American Assets, Inc.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for American Assets Trust, Inc. here.

5. Chesapeake Energy Corporation (CHK): $5.15

Shares of this oil and natural gas producer were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Director Archie W. Dunham acquired 500,000 shares, paying $5.24 per share for a total amount of $2.62 million. Mr. Dunham increased his stake by 12.08% to 4,637,717 shares with this purchase.
• Director Thomas L. Ryan acquired 50,000 shares, paying $5.39 per share for a total amount of $269,500. Mr. Ryan increased his stake by 18.97% to 313,554 shares with this purchase.

Mr. Dunham is the Chairman Emeritus of Chesapeake, one of its largest non-institutional owners and was the President and CEO of Conoco Inc. from January 1996 to August 2002.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Regency Centers Corporation (REG): $62.58

Shares of this retail REIT were sold by 2 insiders:

• Vice Chairman Chaim Katzman sold 5,600,000 shares for $68.45, generating $383.32 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by various entities.
• President and CFO Lisa Palmer sold 10,000 shares for $66.52, generating $665,200 from the sale.

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

2. Builders FirstSource, Inc. (BLDR): $15.27

Shares of this building materials company were sold by 4 insiders:

• Director Paul S. Levy sold 10,000,000 shares for $14.51, generating $145.1 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by JLL Building Holdings.
• President and COO Chad M. Crow sold 106,479 shares for $15.08, generating $1.61 million from the sale. 50,250 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• SVP & General Counsel Donald F. McAleenan sold 71,937 shares for $15.06, generating $1.08 million from the sale.
• Sr Vice President-Operations Morris E. Tolly sold 50,000 shares for $14.84, generating $742,000 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 Builders FirstSource, Inc. here.

3. Facebook, Inc. (FB): $138.79

Shares of Facebook were sold by 3 insiders:

• COB and CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 380,636 shares for $137.92, generating $52.49 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by various entities.
• Chief Product Officer Christopher K. Cox sold 16,000 shares for $137.73, generating $2.2 million from the sale.
• VP and General Counsel Colin Stretch sold 750 shares for $137.57, generating $103,175 from the sale.

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

4. The Brink’s Company (BCO): $52.85

Shares of this security & protection services provider were sold by 3 insiders:

• Director Peter A. Feld sold 900,000 shares for $52.48, generating $47.24 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by various entities.
• Executive Vice President Amit Zukerman sold 10,000 shares for $52.55, generating $525,500 from the sale.
• Controller Thomas Colan sold 966 shares for $52.40, generating $50,618 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for The Brink’s Company here.

5. Broadcom Limited (AVGO): $226.35

Shares of this semiconductor company were sold by 5 insiders:

• President and CEO Hock E. Tan sold 72,586 shares for $217.13, generating $15.76 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• SVP & GM, Wireless Semicon Division Bryan Ingram sold 13,207 shares for $220.00, generating $2.91 million from the sale.
• VP & Chief Financial Officer Thomas H. Krause sold 4,289 shares for $220.00, generating $943,584 from the sale.
• SVP & Chief Sales Officer Charlie B. Kawwas sold 2,584 shares for $218.00, generating $563,312 from the sale.
• VP & General Counsel Patricia H. McCall sold 1,696 shares for $220.00, generating $373,122 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Broadcom Limited here.

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

Disclaimer: Please do your own due diligence before buying or selling any securities mentioned in this article. We do not warrant the completeness or accuracy of the content or data provided in this article.

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