Insider Weekends – CEO of Verisk Analytics Purchases $2 Million Worth of Stock

Welcome to edition 386 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying almost doubled last week with insiders purchasing $101.35 million of stock compared to $54.01 million in the week prior. Selling declined sharply with insiders selling $1.22 billion of stock last week compared to $2.98 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 12.04. In other words, insiders sold more than 12 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favourably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 55.24.

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. American Homes 4 Rent (AMH): $22.13

Director Wayne B. Hughes acquired 690,955 shares of this real estate investment trust, paying $21.88 per share for a total amount of $15.12 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.

Mr. Hughes also acquired nearly $30 million worth of stock in September. Earlier this year another director Tamara Hughes Gustavson acquired $10.26 million worth of stock. Ms. Gustavson is Wayne Hughes’ daughter. We wrote the following after Director Wayne Hughes’ insider purchase in mid-2015 at much lower prices,

This is the third purchase (of) a million shares by Mr. Hughes we have reported on over the last six months. Following his purchase in December we mentioned,

“Mr. Hughes is the billionaire founder of Public Storage (PSA) and retired as the CEO of PSA in 2012. He founded the former manager of American Homes 4 Rent in 2011.”

For a REIT, the company has an unusually low yield of just 1.2%, when compared to the average yield of 3.27% of all residential equity REITs (PDF). The value most likely lies in the single family homes that company holds on its balance sheet as their timing in buying single family homes after the great recession was impeccable. The company trades at 1.05 times tangible book value.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for American Homes 4 Rent here.

2. Accelerate Diagnostics, Inc. (AXDX): $18.75

Shares of this in vitro diagnostics company were acquired by 3 insiders:

• Director Jack W. Schuler acquired 390,964 shares, paying $18.54 per share for a total amount of $7.25 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.
• Director John Patience acquired 58,700 shares, paying $18.66 per share for a total amount of $1.09 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.
• Director Thomas D. Brown acquired 10,500 shares, paying $18.78 per share for a total amount of $197,190.

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

3. Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NLY): $11.24

CEO & President Kevin Keyes acquired 300,000 shares of this mortgage REIT, paying $11.12 per share for a total amount of $3.34 million. Mr. Keyes increased his stake by 43.81% to 984,778 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Annaly Capital Management, Inc. here.

4. American Assets Trust, Inc. (AAT): $39.33

Chairman, CEO & President Ernest S. Rady acquired 85,155 shares of this diversified REIT, paying $38.84 per share for a total amount of $3.31 million.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for American Assets Trust, Inc. here.

5. Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK): $90.21

CEO and President Scott G. Stephenson acquired 22,200 shares of this risk management services provider, paying $91.16 per share for a total amount of $2.02 million. Mr. Stephenson increased his stake by 4.00% to 577,441 shares with this purchase.

This purchase stood out last week because Mr. Stephenson is buying into strength with the stock near its all time high. The stock has outperformed the S&P 500 by nearly 100% since the company went public in late 2009. The other reason this company stood out was its stellar ROE of 29% and operating margin of nearly 38%. A couple of concerns given the company’s rich valuation is that revenue growth appears to have moderated and debt has been increasing the last few quarters with $2.7 billion in net debt on the balance sheet.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Medidata Solutions, Inc. (MDSO): $65.69

Shares of this software-as-a-service company were sold by 4 insiders:

• Chairman & CEO Tarek Sherif sold 200,000 shares for $68.76, generating $13.75 million from the sale.
• President Glen de Vries sold 200,000 shares for $68.76, generating $13.75 million from the sale.
• EVP-General Counsel Michael I. Otner sold 10,000 shares for $70.88, generating $708,800 from the sale. 2,255 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Director Robert Taylor sold 5,000 shares for $71.39, generating $356,950 from the sale.

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

2. Universal Display Corporation (OLED): $175.9

Shares of this organic light emitting diode technologies and materials provider were sold by 6 insiders:

• EVP and CFO Sidney D. Rosenblatt sold 50,240 shares for $167.80, generating $8.43 million from the sale. 30,240 of these shares were sold indirectly by a Family Limited Partnership.
• Chairman of Board and Founder Sherwin I. Seligsohn sold 50,000 shares for $150.00, generating $7.5 million from the sale.
• President and CEO Steven V. Abramson sold 18,744 shares for $158.40, generating $2.97 million from the sale.
• Director Lawrence Lacerte sold 16,500 shares for $166.04, generating $2.74 million from the sale.
• Chief Technical Officer Julia J. Brown sold 10,000 shares for $150.00, generating $1.5 million from the sale.
• Director Rosemarie B. Greco sold 1,250 shares for $168.63, generating $210,781 from the sale.

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

3. HealthEquity, Inc. (HQY): $49.74

Director Frank Medici sold 435,206 shares of this healthcare information services provider for $53.02, generating $23.07 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Berkley Capital Investors, L.P.

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

4. Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET): $221.05

Shares of this networking solutions provider were sold by 2 insiders:

• President and CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 81,380 shares for $211.89, generating $17.24 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through various trusts.
• SVP and General Counsel Marc Taxay sold 7,000 shares for $211.39, generating $1.48 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 Arista Networks, Inc. here.

5. NVR, Inc. (NVR): $3

Director William A. Moran sold 4,949 shares of this construction company for $3,261.99, generating $16.14 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through trusts.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for NVR, 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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