Insider Weekends – John Malone Buys Again

Welcome to edition 369 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying decreased significantly last week with insiders buying $46.08 million of stock compared to $114.27 million in the week prior. Selling on the other hand increased with insiders selling $490.44 million of stock last week compared to $461 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 went up to 10.64. In other words, insiders sold more than 10 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 4.03.

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. Liberty Global plc (LBTYA): $31.46

Director John C. Malone acquired 863,089 shares of Liberty Global, paying $24.51 per share for a total amount of $21.15 million. Mr. Malone increased his direct holdings by 35.60% to 3,287,533 shares with this purchase.

As indicated in the footnotes of the filing,

The trading symbols for the Issuer’s classes of ordinary shares are LBTYA, LBTYB, LBTYK, LILA, LILAB, and LILAK.

Mr. Malone was one of the eight CEOs profiled in the book The Outsiders by William Thorndike.

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

2. Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (AKBA): $13.86

Director Muneer A. Satter acquired 1,034,482 shares of this biotech company, paying $14.50 per share for a total amount of $14.99 million. These shares were acquired indirectly by Satter Medical Technology Partners, L.P. through participation in a secondary offering.

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

3. Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI): $81.55

Director Bruce R. Evans acquired 14,000 shares of this semiconductor company, paying $78.28 per share for a total amount of $1.09 million. Mr. Evans increased his stake by 26.15% to 67,540 shares with this purchase.

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

4. International Speedway Corporation (ISCA): $33.95

Director Hyatt J. Brown acquired 10,000 shares of this motorsports themed entertainment company, paying $33.79 per share for a total amount of $337,900. These shares were purchased indirectly by Mr. Brown’s spouse.

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

5. Opko Health, Inc. (OPK): $6.13

CEO & Chairman Phillip Frost M.D. acquired 53,600 shares of this medical devices and drug development  company, paying $6.19 per share for a total amount of $331,620. These shares were purchased indirectly by Frost Gamma Investments Trust.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Facebook, Inc. (FB): $159.97

Shares of Facebook were sold by 4 insiders:

• COB and CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 268,100 shares for $158.52, generating $42.49 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through various entities.
• Chief Technology Officer Michael Todd Schroepfer sold 37,914 shares for $154.43, generating $5.85 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 $149.93, generating $2.39 million from the sale.
• VP and General Counsel Colin Stretch sold 750 shares for $153.36, generating $115,020 from the sale.

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

2. Workday, Inc. (WDAY): $103.78

Director David A. Duffield sold 359,484 shares of this application software company for $97.39, generating $35.01 million from the sale.

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

3. Twitter, Inc. (TWTR): $19.64

Shares of Twitter were sold by 2 insiders:

• Director Evan Clark Williams sold 853,700 shares for $19.38, generating $16.55 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by various trusts.
• General Counsel Vijaya Gadde sold 15,000 shares for $18.28, generating $274,190 from the sale.

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

4. BeiGene, Ltd. (BGNE): $73.69

Shares of this biopharmaceutical company were sold by 3 insiders:

• Chief Executive Officer John Oyler sold 219,400 shares for $64.82, generating $14.22 million from the sale.
• Director Xiaodong Wang sold 20,000 shares for $72.44, generating $1.45 million from the sale.
• Director Donald W. Glazer sold 10,810 shares for $72.15, generating $779,900 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for BeiGene, Ltd. here.

5. NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA): $164.95

Director Harvey C. Jones sold 100,000 shares of this semiconductor company for $150.29, generating $15.03 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.

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

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

Disclaimer: I hold long positions in Workday (WDAY) and Twitter (TWTR). 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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