Insider Weekends – Insiders of Several Retailers Buy Stock

Welcome to edition 375 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying declined with insiders purchasing $58.05 million of stock compared to $169.18 million in the week prior. Selling also declined with insiders selling $1.44 billion of stock last week compared to $2.69 billion in the week prior.

We saw several retailers post better than expected results last week and many of them posted double digit gains following those results. These “better than expected results” were obviously coming off very depressed levels after years of same store sales declines and store closings as seen from the image below. This image was posted by @PlanMaestro on Twitter this morning with the comment “Retail Store Closings … worst than in recession”. Against this backdrop, it is ironic that Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods is scheduled to close on Monday.

It was interesting to note active insider buying in several retailers this week including cluster purchases by the insiders of J. C. Penny (JCP) and Fossil (FOSL). Other retailers with insider buying include a director of Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS) acquiring 20,000 shares for nearly half a million dollars, purchases by the CEO and a director of Sally Beauty Holdings (SBH) and purchases by two directors of Macy’s (M).

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 24.89. In other words, insiders sold almost 25 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 15.88.

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. Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc. (FRGI): $17.55

Director Brian P. Friedman acquired 200,000 shares of this restaurants company, paying $17.85 per share for a total amount of $3.57 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Leucadia National Corporation.

This is the third week in a row Fiesta Restaurant Group has made our list of top insider purchases.

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

2. Lands’ End, Inc. (LE): $12.65

10% Owner Edward S. Lampert acquired 218,762 shares of this apparel retailer, paying $12.17 per share for a total amount of $2.66 million.

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

3. General Electric Company (GE): $24.49

Director James S. Tisch acquired 100,000 shares of General Electric, paying $24.56 per share for a total amount of $2.46 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.

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

4. American Assets Trust, Inc. (AAT): $40.82

Chairman, CEO & President Ernest S. Rady acquired 43,475 shares of this diversified REIT, paying $40.29 per share for a total amount of $1.75 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.

5. United Security Bancshares (UBFO): $9.2

Director Robert Michele Mochizuki acquired 195,000 shares of this regional bank, paying $8.75 per share for a total amount of $1.71 million. Mr. Mochizuki increased his stake by 577.50% to 228,766 shares with this purchase.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT): $78.63

Director Robson S. Walton sold 1,250,000 shares of Wal-Mart for $80.17, generating $100.21 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. here.

2. Intuit Inc. (INTU): $137.35

Shares of this accounting and tax software company were sold by 4 insiders:

• Chairman of the Executive Comm Scott D. Cook sold 183,334 shares for $135.22, generating $24.79 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through various trusts.
• EVP, Small Bus. & Self-Emplyd. Sasan K. Goodarzi sold 98,901 shares for $135.22, generating $13.37 million from the sale. 90,000 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• EVP, Consumer Group Daniel A. Wernikoff sold 8,329 shares for $135.17, generating $1.13 million from the sale.
• EVP, Chief Technology Officer Henry Tayloe Stansbury sold 7,768 shares for $134.41, generating $1.04 million from the sale. 1,871 of these shares were sold as a result of exersing options immediately prior to the sale.

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

3. Liberty Broadband Corporation (LBRDA): $98.93

Director John C. Malone sold 294,275 shares of this company for $100.39, generating $29.54 million from the sale. 45,000 of these shares were sold indirectly through a trust.

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

4. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (REGN): $477.8

Shares of this biotech company were sold by 2 insiders:

• Chairman of the Board Roy P. Vagelos sold 56,213 shares for $474.48, generating $26.67 million from the sale.
• SVP Finance & CFO Robert E. Landry sold 468 shares for $476.45, generating $222,981 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 Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. here.

5. The Liberty SiriusXM Group (LSXMA): $43.39

Chairman of the Board John C. Malone sold 584,818 shares of this company for $42.80, generating $25.03 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for The Liberty SiriusXM Group here.

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

Disclaimer: I hold a long position in Whole Foods (WFM). 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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