Insider Weekends – Cluster Purchase by the Insiders of Tile Shop Holdings

Welcome to edition 371 of Insider Weekends. With Q2 earnings season in full swing, we finally saw an uptick in insider buying with insiders purchasing $94.97 million of stock compared to $15.01 million in the week prior. Selling on the other hand decreased with insiders selling $651.35 million of stock last week compared to $1.28 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 dropped to 6.86. In other words, insiders sold almost 7 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 85.25.

I was hiking through the Purisima Creek Redwoods Preserve this weekend while listening to a Masters in Business podcast where Barry Ritholtz interviews Rich Barton, the cofounder of Expedia (EXPE), Zillow (Z) and Glassdoor. The interview was as absorbing as the ones I mentioned last week and it was interesting to hear Mr. Barton bring up Jay Hoag, the founding general partner at venture capital firm TCV. Mr. Hoag’s track record of purchasing Netflix (NFLX) and Zillow (Z) in the public market has been excellent. You can read more about his purchases of both these companies in the February 26, 2016 edition of Insider Weekends.

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. Lands End, Inc. (LE): $13.25

10% Owner Edward S. Lampert acquired 1,783,024 shares of this apparel retailer, paying $13.39 per share for a total amount of $23.87 million.

We also featured Mr. Lampert’s purchase of Lands End last week and wrote the following,

We normally don’t feature purchases by 10% owners but decided to make an exception in this case because of Mr. Lampert is the CEO of Sears Holdings (SHLD) and Land’s End was spun out of Sears in April 2014.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Lands' End, Inc. here.

2. Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (SRPT): $40.81

President & CEO Douglas S. Ingram acquired 47,058 shares of this biotech company, paying $42.50 per share for a total amount of $1.99 million. Mr. Ingram increased his stake by 14.05% to 382,058 shares with this purchase.

Despite the size of the purchase, market reaction to this purchase was muted. Sarepta shareholders have been on wild rollercoaster ride over the last few years as the company developed a drug to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a genetic disorder characterized by progressive muscle degeneration. Its drug to treat DMD was approved last September amid clashes within the FDA.

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

3. Tile Shop Holdings, Inc. (TTS): $14.65

Shares of this home improvement products retailer were acquired by 3 insiders:

• Director Peter H. Kamin acquired 43,757 shares, paying $13.73 per share for a total amount of $600,936. Mr. Kamin increased his stake by 10.10% to 476,845 shares with this purchase. These shares were purchased indirectly by various trusts and entities.
• Director Peter J. Jacullo III acquired 24,072 shares, paying $14.10 per share for a total amount of $339,502. Mr. Jacullo increased his stake by 8.70% to 300,826 shares with this purchase.
• CEO and President Chris Homeister acquired 9,000 shares, paying $13.98 per share for a total amount of $125,804. Mr. Homeister increased his stake by 13.38% to 76,258 shares with this purchase.

We mentioned Mr. Kamin’s $2.29 million purchase of TTS last week and he was joined by two other insiders this week. He was also a frequent buyer of the stock in 2014 and especially in the fourth quarter of 2014 after a large decline in the stock that saw it trading in the high single digits.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Tile Shop Holdings, Inc. here.

4. Dell Technologies Inc. (DVMT): $63.72

Chief Executive Officer Michael S. Dell acquired 33,567 shares of this VMWare tracking stock, paying $31.29 per share for a total amount of $1.05 million. Mr. Dell increased his stake by 9.04% to 404,973 shares with this purchase.

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

5. General Electric Company (GE): $25.53

Shares of General Electric were acquired by 3 insiders:

• Director James E. Rohr acquired 27,425 shares, paying $25.50 per share for a total amount of $699,338. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.
• Director John Joseph Brennan acquired 10,000 shares, paying $25.80 per share for a total amount of $258,000. Mr. Brennan increased his stake by 40.00% to 35,000 shares with this purchase.
• Senior Vice President Alexander Dimitrief acquired 1,845 shares, paying $25.54 per share for a total amount of $47,130. Mr. Dimitrief increased his stake by 2.65% to 71,468 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for General Electric Company here.

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Floor & Decor Holdings, Inc. (FND): $35.54

Shares of this flooring products retailer were sold by 6 insiders:

• Director George Vincent West sold 260,961 shares for $38.50, generating $10.05 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by American West Investment Corporation.
• Chief Executive Officer Thomas V. Taylor sold 154,262 shares for $38.50, generating $5.94 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• EVP & CMO Lisa Laube sold 87,000 shares for $38.50, generating $3.35 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Director Norman Axelrod sold 57,804 shares for $38.50, generating $2.23 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.
• Director Peter Starrett sold 54,744 shares for $38.50, generating $2.11 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.
• EVP and CFO Trevor Lang sold 46,200 shares for $38.50, generating $1.78 million 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 Floor & Decor Holdings, Inc. here.

2. Wayfair Inc. (W): $78.2

Shares of this ecommerce company were sold by 6 insiders:

• Co-Founder Steven Conine sold 55,000 shares for $76.63, generating $4.21 million from the sale.
• Chief Executive Officer Niraj Shah sold 55,000 shares for $76.63, generating $4.21 million from the sale.
• Chief Operating Officer James Savarese sold 29,482 shares for $80.00, generating $2.36 million from the sale.
• Chief Financial Officer Michael D. Fleisher sold 4,656 shares for $76.34, generating $355,439 from the sale.
• Chief Technology Officer John Champlin Mulliken sold 1,400 shares for $77.89, generating $109,046 from the sale.
• Chief Product/Marketing Officer Edmond Macri sold 600 shares for $76.61, generating $45,966 from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.

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

3. Monro Muffler Brake, Inc. (MNRO): $45.8

Shares of this auto repair services provider and tire retailer were sold by 2 insiders:

• Chief Executive Officer John Van Heel sold 129,089 shares for $46.76, generating $6.04 million from the sale.
• CEO Robert G. Gross sold 70,000 shares for $46.81, generating $3.28 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Monro Muffler Brake, Inc. here.

4. Criteo S.A. (CRTO): $51.42

Executive Chairman Jean-Baptiste Rudelle sold 150,000 shares of this digital performance marketing company for $50.56, generating $7.58 million from the sale.

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

5. Lindsay Corporation (LNN): $91.69

President and CEO Rick Parod sold 77,387 shares of this water management and road infrastructure products and services provider for $91.47, generating $7.08 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Lindsay Corporation 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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