Insider Weekends – CEO of ETP Acquires a Million Shares

Welcome to edition 374 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying almost doubled with insiders purchasing $169.18 million of stock compared to $85.56 million in the week prior. Selling on the other hand declined with insiders selling $2.69 billion of stock last week compared to $3.27 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 15.88. In other words, insiders sold almost 16 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 38.16.

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): $18.26

Chief Executive Officer Kelcy L. Warren acquired 1,000,000 shares of this energy storage and transportation company, paying $18.65 per share for a total amount of $18.65 million. Mr. Warren increased his stake by 96.93% to 2,031,646 shares with this purchase.

Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, merged with Sonoco Logistics Partners last year to become the second largest energy pipeline company. ETP is structured as a Master Limited Partnership (MLP) and hence distributes most of its income to unit holders. As is the case with most MLPs, it has a high double digit yield of over 12% and you are likely to get a K-1 form to file with your taxes even if you hold the MLP in a retirement account. Some brokers like Interactive Brokers (IBKR) no longer allow you to hold MLPs in retirement accounts. ThinkAdvisor has a great FAQ related to MLPs and their tax consequences.

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

2. American Assets Trust, Inc. (AAT): $39.85

Chairman, CEO & President Ernest S. Rady acquired 82,040 shares of this diversified REIT, paying $40.31 per share for a total amount of $3.31 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.

3. Wesco Aircraft Holdings, Inc. (WAIR): $7.75

Shares of this supply chain management services provider to the global aerospace industry were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Director Thomas Bancroft acquired 369,359 shares, paying $7.79 per share for a total amount of $2.88 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Makaira Partners, LLC.
• Chief Executive Officer Todd Renehan acquired 5,100 shares, paying $7.79 per share for a total amount of $39,739. Mr. Renehan increased his stake by 17.42% to 34,380 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Wesco Aircraft Holdings, Inc. here.

4. Intrexon Corporation (XON): $17.3

Shares of this biotech company were acquired by 4 insiders:

• Chief Executive Officer Randal J. Kirk acquired 132,625 shares, paying $18.85 per share for a total amount of $2.49 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Kapital Joe.
• Director Jeffrey B. Kindler acquired 5,440 shares, paying $18.32 per share for a total amount of $99,661. Mr. Kindler increased his stake by 8.20% to 71,762 shares with this purchase.
• SVP-Corporate Development Nir Nimrodi acquired 3,369 shares, paying $18.75 per share for a total amount of $63,169. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.
• Chief Operating Officer Andrew J. Last acquired 2,000 shares, paying $19.99 per share for a total amount of $39,980.

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

5. Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc. (FRGI): $17.8

Shares of this restaurants chain were acquired by 3 insiders:

• Director Brian P. Friedman acquired 140,000 shares, paying $18.41 per share for a total amount of $2.58 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Leucadia National Corporation.
• CEO and President Richard C. Stockinger acquired 2,750 shares, paying $18.30 per share for a total amount of $50,311. Mr. Stockinger increased his stake by 3.47% to 81,985 shares with this purchase.
• Director Jack A. Smith acquired 2,000 shares, paying $18.24 per share for a total amount of $36,480. Mr. Smith increased his stake by 4.25% to 49,041 shares with this purchase.

Fiesta Restaurant Group made our list for the second week in a row with the CEO joining Leucadia in buying shares. We wrote the following last week,

This purchase by Leucadia is less than half the size of their $6.53 million purchase in June. The stock was down more than 20% from their June purchase price before rebounding last week following the company’s second quarter 2017 results. The company is still attempting to turn around and while turn arounds rarely manage to turn around, Mr. Friedman probably believes otherwise.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Facebook, Inc. (FB): $167.41

Shares of Facebook were sold by 4 insiders:

• Director Jan Koum sold 2,953,492 shares for $170.17, generating $502.59 million from the sale. 1,242,673 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• COB and CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 248,984 shares for $170.69, generating $42.49 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through various entities.
• VP Marketing & Bus. Part. David B. Fischer sold 50,533 shares for $169.95, generating $8.59 million from the sale.
• VP and General Counsel Colin Stretch sold 750 shares for $171.15, generating $128,365 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 Facebook, Inc. here.

2. QTS Realty Trust, Inc. (QTS): $52.29

Shares of this data center REIT were sold by 4 insiders:

• Chief Executive Officer Chad L. Williams sold 682,576 shares for $54.25, generating $37.03 million from the sale. 115,790  of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey H. Berson sold 18,235 shares for $54.61, generating $995,813 from the sale.
• EVP — Finance and Accounting William H. Schafer sold 16,260 shares for $54.47, generating $885,654 from the sale.
• Director Stephen E. Westhead sold 9,425 shares for $54.44, generating $513,097 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for QTS Realty Trust, Inc. here.

3. QVC Group (QVCA): $21.17

Director Mark C. Vadon sold 1,278,251 shares of this online and television-based commerce company for $22.41, generating $28.65 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Lake Tana LLC.

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

4. Glaukos Corporation (GKOS): $37.45

Director Jonathan Silverstein sold 325,000 shares of this ophthalmic medical technology company for $37.93, generating $12.33 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by OrbiMed Private Investments.

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

5. Primo Water Corporation (PRMW): $11.96

Executive Chairman Billy D. Prim sold 1,000,000 shares of this beverage company for $12.16, generating $12.16 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Primo Water 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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