Insider Weekends – John Malone Purchases $16.35 Million Worth of Liberty Global

Welcome to edition 368 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying increased significantly last week with insiders buying $114.27 million of stock compared to $39.36 million in the week prior. Selling on the other hand declined with insiders selling $461 million of stock last week compared to $638.73 million in the week prior.

I have kept these posts short the last two weeks as I am spending some time with family on the East Coast and experiencing the beaches in weather that is hot enough to enjoy them. Given below is a picture of Long Branch beach in New Jersey.

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 4.03. In other words, insiders sold more than 4 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 16.23.

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. Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. (ETP): $20.2

Chief Executive Officer Kelcy L. Warren acquired 1,000,000 shares of this energy storage and transportation company, paying $20.33 per share for a total amount of $20.33 million. Mr. Warren increased his stake by 3,159.96% to 1,031,646 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. here.

2. Liberty Global plc (LBTYA): $31.46

Director John C. Malone acquired 746,911 shares of this broadcasting company, paying $21.89 per share for a total amount of $16.35 million.

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

3. Opko Health, Inc. (OPK): $6.38

CEO & Chairman Phillip Frost M.D. acquired 89,400 shares of this medical devices and drug development company, paying $6.40 per share for a total amount of $572,237. These shares were purchased indirectly by Frost Gamma Investments Trust.

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

4. International Speedway Corporation (ISCA): $33.95

Director Hyatt J. Brown acquired 10,000 shares of this motorsports themed entertainment company, paying $35.63 per share for a total amount of $356,300.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. here.

5. IDT Corporation (IDT): $14.61

Director Judah Schorr acquired 20,000 shares of this telecommunications company, paying $14.32 per share for a total amount of $286,489. Mr. Schorr increased his stake by 31.60% to 83,287 shares with this purchase.

We covered large purchases by the Chairman of IDT in April and June of this year. We wrote the following after his April 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.

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Facebook, Inc. (FB): $151.44

Shares of Facebook were sold by 2 insiders:

• COB and CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 281,436 shares for $151.01, generating $42.49 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through various entities.
• VP and General Counsel Colin Stretch sold 750 shares for $149.00, generatin $111,750 from the sale.

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

2. Prudential Financial, Inc. (PRU): $111.36

Chief Executive Officer John R. Strangfeld Jr. sold 201,585 shares of this life insurance company for $110.00, generating $22.17 million from the sale. 170,667 of 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 Prudential Financial, Inc. here.

3. FactSet Research Systems Inc. (FDS): $162.04

Director Philip A. Hadley sold 106,000 shares of this financial software and services company for $168.80, generating $17.89 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for FactSet Research Systems Inc. here.

4. Flex Ltd. (FLEX): $16.29

Shares of this electronics manufacturing and logistics company were sold by 5 insiders:

• Chief Executive Officer Michael M. McNamara sold 285,288 shares for $16.22, generating $4.63 million from the sale.
• President, HRS Paul Humphries sold 110,126 shares for $16.20, generating $1.78 million from the sale.
• President, Global Operations Francois Barbier sold 110,126 shares for $16.22, generating $1.78 million from the sale.
• Chief Financial Officer Christopher Collier sold 78,088 shares for $16.22, generating $1.27 million from the sale.
• Chief Accounting Officer David P. Bennett sold 25,000 shares for $16.20, generating $405,055 from the sale.

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

5. Wayfair Inc. (W): $74.06

Shares of this ecommerce company were sold by 6 insiders:

• Chief Executive Officer Niraj Shah sold 50,000 shares for $75.25, generating $3.76 million from the sale.
• Co-Founder Steven Conine sold 50,000 shares for $75.24, generating $3.76 million from the sale.
• SVP and GM, Wayfair.com Steve Oblak sold 948 shares for $76.68, generating $72,697 from the sale.
• Chief Technology Officer John Champlin Mulliken sold 944 shares for $75.63, generating $71,394 from the sale.
• Chief Product/Marketing Edmond Macri sold 844 shares for $75.42, generating $63,656 from the sale.
• Chief Administrative Officer Nicholas Malone sold 244 shares for $76.86, generating $18,754 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Wayfair 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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