Welcome to edition ten of Insider Weekends. Insider buying decreased last week with insiders purchasing $33.42 million of their stock when compared to $37.65 million in the week prior. Selling held steady with insiders selling $820.41 million worth of stock when compared to $821.45 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 buying in that week. The adjusted ratio for last week went up to 24.55. In other words, insiders sold almost 25 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the week prior when the ratio stood at 21.82. We are calculating an adjusted ratio by removing transactions by funds and companies and trying as best as possible only to retain information about insiders and 10% owners who are not funds or companies.
Clusters:
The biggest cluster of insider sales last week was by the insiders of for-profit education company Bridgepoint Education (BPI) where six insiders sold $8.39 million worth of stock. The for-profit education sector has recently been the target of increased regulatory oversight related to their use of financial aid and their loan practices. The biggest cluster of insider purchases last week was by the insiders of MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR) where four insiders purchased $1.22 million worth of stock. This follows purchases by three additional insiders including the CFO last week. Shares of WFR had fallen to a fresh 52 week low two weeks ago after second quarter results were announced.