Insider Weekends – November 19, 2010

Welcome to edition twenty four of Insider Weekends. Insider buying decreased significantly last week with insiders purchasing $25.73 million of their stock when compared to $45.16 million in the week prior. Selling also decreased with insiders selling $2.37 billion worth of stock when compared to $2.71 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 buying in that week. The adjusted ratio for last week went up to 92. In other words, insiders sold 92 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the week prior when the ratio stood at 60. The ratio this week was impacted by insider buying and selling related to secondary offerings. The Sell/Buy ratio drops to 82 after removing these transactions. 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.

Note: As mentioned in the first post in this series Introduction to Insider Weekends, 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. BlackRock, Inc. (BLK): $168.98

Shares of this asset management company were purchased by two insiders:

• Director James Grosfeld acquired 25,000 shares, paying $167.84 per share for a total amount of $4.2 million. Mr Grosfeld increased his stake by 24.44% to 127,274 shares with this purchase.
• Director Mathis Cabiallavetta acquired 1,000 shares, paying $168.69 per share for a total amount of $168,692. Mr Cabiallavetta increased his stake by  166.67% to 1,600 shares with this purchase.

BlackRock is one of the largest investment management companies in the world with $3.45 trillion in assets under management as of September 2010. The company also owns the iShares brand of ETFs that it acquired from Barclays (BCS) in mid-2009.

2. MBIA Inc. (MBI): $10.59

Chief Executive Officer Joseph Brown acquired 100,000 shares of this surety and title insurance provider, paying $10.00 per share for a total amount of $999,590. Mr Joseph increased his stake by 2.39% to 4,278,446 shares with this purchase.

3. Inland Real Estate Corp. (IRC): $8.45

Mr Daniel Goodwin acquired 92,064 shares of this real estate investment trust (REIT), paying $8.64 per share for a total amount of $795,033. Mr Goodwin increased his stake by 0.85% to 10,938,455 shares with this purchase. He holds these shares both directly and indirectly through various trusts and companies.

4. Avatar Holdings Inc. (AVTR): $18.39

Shares of this residential construction company were purchased by two insiders:

• Chairman of the Board Joshua Lionel Nash acquired 37,500 shares, paying $17.89 per share for a total amount of $670,915. Mr Nash increased his stake by 1,773% to 39,615 shares with this purchase.
• Director Roger Einiger acquired 5,000 shares, paying $17.4 per share for a total amount of $86,977. Mr Einiger increased his stake by 51.47% to 14,715 shares with this purchase.

This construction company that operates in Arizona and Florida reported a loss of $9.5 million for the third quarter and losses of $25.4 million for the first nine months of the year. In light of these losses the purchase by the Chairman is a little surprising. The perceived value could be in the assets the company holds as it trades at less than half its book value.

5. Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (CETV): $21.04

Chief Financial Officer David Sach acquired 27,500 shares of this media company, paying $21.77 per share for a total amount of $598,714. Mr Sach increased his stake by 2,750% to 28,500 shares with this purchase.

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): $25.69

Shares of Microsoft were sold by two insiders:

• CEO Steven Ballmer sold 17,515,177 shares for $25.93 per share, generating a total amount of $454 million
• Director Bill Gates III sold 7 million shares for $26.02 per share, generating a total amount of $182.15 million

2. Oracle Corp. (ORCL): $28.1525

Share of this application software company were sold by two insiders:

• CEO Larry Ellison sold 5 million shares for $28.14 per share, generating a total amount of $140.68 million
• Director Molina Hector Garcia sold 6,243 shares for $28.51 per share, generating a total amount of $177,988. This sale was as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale

3. WebMD Health Corp. (WBMD): $51.2

Shares of this internet information provider were sold by two insiders:

• Chairman of the Board Martin Wygod sold 392,116 shares for $52.29 per share, generating a total amount of $20.5 million
• Director Jerome Keller sold 9,609 shares for $51.47 per share, generating a total amount of $494,575

4. Concho Resources, Inc. (CXO): $77.47

Director Steven Beal sold 250,000 shares of this oil & gas drilling & exploration company for $75.73 per share, generating a total amount of $18.93 million

5. IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. (ICE): $114.78

Shares of ICE were sold by two insiders:

• Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Sprecher sold 77,250 shares for $113.45 per share, generating a total amount of $8.76 million
• Pres. & COO of ICE Futures Eur. David Peniket sold 3,000 shares for $114.16 per share, generating a total amount of $342,480