Insider Weekends – CEO of Spin-Off Yum China Buys Stock

Welcome to edition 356 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying rebounded sharply with insiders buying $49.51 million of stock compared to $5.99 million in the week prior. Selling on the other hand decreased with insiders selling $408.7 million of stock last week compared to $712.03 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 dropped to 8.25. In other words, insiders sold more than 8 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 118.82.

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. IDT Corporation (IDT): $14.63

Chairman of the Board Howard S. Jonas acquired 728,332 shares of this telecommunications company, paying $13.73 per share for a total amount of $10 million. Mr. Jonas increased his stake by 316.09% to 958,752 shares with this purchase. This was a Class B Treasury stock purchase.

Looking through the history of Mr. Jonas’ sales, he has also been selling Class B Treasury stock. His children’s trusts were active sellers of the stock last year and this is the first insider purchase we have seen by Mr. Jonas since we started tracking insider transactions over six years ago.

The company appears cheap on certain valuation metrics, sports a dividend yield of 5.19% with a payout ratio of 49% and has a strong balance sheet. The top line has however been declining for several years and that might partially explain why the stock appears to be cheap.

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

2. Yum China Holdings, Inc. (YUMC): $32.99

Chief Executive Officer Muktesh Pant acquired 100,000 shares of this restaurant company, paying $31.17 per share for a total amount of $3.12 million. Mr. Pant increased his stake by 635.61% to 115,733 shares with this purchase.

I am currently rereading Joel Greenblatt’s You Can Be a Stock Market Genius and in the book he makes a case for tracking spin-offs and especially paying attention to insiders of spin-offs. Yum China was spun off from Yum! Brands (YUM) last October and has significantly outperformed its parent with a gain of over 28% when compared to a nearly flat stock for Yum! Brands. Investors also bid up the stock more than 5% following this purchase in a down market.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Yum China Holdings, Inc. here.

3. Calavo Growers, Inc. (CVGW): $63.7

Chairman of the Board and CEO Lecil E. Cole acquired 42,942 shares of this avocado and food products company, paying $61.78 per share for a total amount of $2.65 million. Mr. Cole increased his stake by 7.64% to 604,923 shares with this purchase.

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

4. Opko Health, Inc. (OPK): $7.62

CEO & Chairman Phillip Frost M.D. acquired 109,800 shares of this devices and drug development company, paying $7.57 per share for a total amount of $831,370. These shares were purchased indirectly by Frost Gamma Investments Trust.

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

5. Agenus Inc. (AGEN): $3.47

Chairman & CEO Garo H. Armen acquired 100,000 shares of this biotech company, paying $3.35 per share for a total amount of $334,520. Mr. Armen increased his stake by 7.58% to 1,418,477 shares with this purchase.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Facebook, Inc. (FB): $139.39

Shares of Facebook were sold by 4 insiders:

• COB and CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 375,454 shares for $139.83, generating $52.49 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through various enities.
• Chief Technology Officer Michael Todd Schroepfer sold 37,945 shares for $139.79, generating $5.3 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Chief Product Officer Christopher K. Cox sold 16,000 shares for $141.20, generating $2.26 million from the sale.
• VP and General Counsel Colin Stretch sold 750 shares for $140.66, generating $105,497 from the sale.

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

2. ServiceNow, Inc. (NOW): $84.64

Director Frederic B. Luddy sold 102,000 shares of this software-as-a-service provider for $84.88, generating $8.66 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.

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

3. Criteo S.A. (CRTO): $49.92

Executive Chairman Jean-Baptiste Rudelle sold 150,000 shares of this French digital marketing company for $50.13, generating $7.52 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Criteo S.A. here.

4. Constellation Brands, Inc. (STZ): $168.95

Shares of this alcoholic beverages company were sold by 2 insiders:

• Exec. VP & Gen. Counsel Thomas J. Mullin sold 39,854 shares for $169.55, generating $6.76 million from the sale.
• Director Barry A. Fromberg sold 700 shares for $170.03, generating $119,021 from the sale.

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

5. Qualys, Inc. (QLYS): $35.7

Shares of this security and compliance services company were sold by 2 insiders:

• Chairman, President & CEO Philippe F. Courtot sold 120,000 shares for $36.61, generating $4.39 million from the sale.
• Chief Product Officer Sumedh S. Thakar sold 1,800 shares for $36.85, generating $66,335 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 Qualys, Inc. 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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