Insider Weekends – March 11, 2011

  • March 13, 2011

Welcome to edition forty of Insider Weekends. Insider buying dropped sharply with insiders purchasing $23.28 million of their stock last week when compared to $56.4 million in the week prior. Selling increased with insiders selling $1.53 billion worth of stock when compared to $1.44 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 jumped to 65.55. In other words, insiders sold more than 65 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the week prior when the ratio stood at 25.6. The ratio has not been this high since the first week of December. 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.

Insider Sell Buy Ratio March 11, 2011
Insider Sell Buy Ratio March 11, 2011

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. Opko Health, Inc. (OPK): $3.75

CEO & Chairman Phillip Md Frost acquired 1,050,000 shares of this medical appliances & equipment company, paying $3.59 per share for a total amount of $3.77 million.

These shares were acquired indirectly through Frost Gamma Investments Trust, of which Dr. Frost is the trustee. We have mentioned Opko Health several times in the past and wrote the following in January after a $4.11 million purchase,

Dr. Frost has been consistently buying Opko Health stock since it was trading for just $0.59 in March 2009. This is the largest purchase by him over the last two years both in terms of number of shares acquired as well as the dollar amount. A second insider joined Dr. Frost in picking up shares on the open market. The first filing came in during market hours and I posted a message on the Insider Trade Reports dedicated Twitter account about it and shortly thereafter purchased shares for my trading portfolio.

Voluntary Disclosure: I hold a long position in Opko Health.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Opko Health here.

P/E: N/AForward P/E: N/AIndustry P/E: 31.58
P/S: 30.07Price/Book: 44.68EV/EBITDA: -54.1
Market Cap: $957.58MAvg. Daily Volume: 1,483,78052 Week Range: $1.80 – $5.03

2. Lance, Inc. (LNCE): $18.94

Director Michael A. Warehime acquired 98,867 shares of this packaged snack manufacturer, paying $18.31 per share for a total amount of $1.81 million. Mr. Warehime increased his stake by 1.01% to 9,845,712 shares with this purchase.

Snack company Synder’s of Hanover recently completed a merger with fellow snack maker Lance, Inc. to form Synder’s-Lance with Michael Warehime as the Chairman of the combined company.

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

P/E: 270.57Forward P/E: 14.68Industry P/E: N/A
P/S: 1.32Price/Book: 1.55EV/EBITDA: 15.4
Market Cap: $1.26BAvg. Daily Volume: 263,28552 Week Range: $15.91 – $24.26

3. Chesapeake Energy Corporation (CHK): $32.81

Shares of this natural gas company were acquired by 3 insiders:

  • Director Richard K. Davidson acquired 20,000 shares, paying $32.07 per share for a total amount of $641,332. Theses shares were acquired indirectly through an annuity trust.
  • Chairman & CEO Aubrey K. McClendon acquired 15,000 shares, paying $32.65 per share for a total amount of $489,708. Mr. McClendon increased his stake by 0.51% to 2,947,113 shares with this purchase.
  • Director Burns Hargis acquired 1,537 shares, paying $32.17 per share for a total amount of $49,441. Mr. Hargis increased his stake by 3.63% to 43,847 shares with this purchase.

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

P/E: 13.06Forward P/E: 10.97Industry P/E: 26.82
P/S: 2.17Price/Book: 1.66EV/EBITDA: 7.97
Market Cap: $20.76BAvg. Daily Volume: 13,254,60052 Week Range: $19.62 – $35.95

4. Dex One Corporation (DEXO): $4.26

Shares of this marketing and publishing company were acquired by 2 insiders:

  • CEO & President Alfred T. Mockett acquired 200,000 shares, paying $4.10 per share for a total amount of $819,636. Mr. Mockett increased his stake by 100% to 400,000 shares with this purchase.
  • SVP and CTO Atish Banerjea acquired 10,000 shares, paying $4.35 per share for a total amount of $43,466. Mr. Banerjea increased his stake by 20% to 60,000 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Dex One here.

P/E: 0.04Forward P/E: N/AIndustry P/E: N/A
P/S: 0.21Price/Book: 0.4EV/EBITDA: 18.51
Market Cap: $213.13MAvg. Daily Volume: 503,01552 Week Range: $3.87 – $30.89

5. Cabela’s Inc. (CAB): $26.34

Director Reuben Mark acquired 30,000 shares of this outdoor sporting goods retailer, paying $26.42 per share for a total amount of $792,487. Mr. Mark increased his stake by 2.81% to 1,099,413 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Cabela’s here.

P/E: 16.26Forward P/E: 11.97Industry P/E: N/A
P/S: 0.68Price/Book: 1.77EV/EBITDA: 15.35
Market Cap: $1.80BAvg. Daily Volume: 615,24252 Week Range: $12.83 – $32.37

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Qlik Technologies, Inc. (QLIK): $23.35

Shares of this business software & services company were sold by 6 insiders:

  • Director Erel N. Margalit sold 4,000,000 shares for $23.00, generating $92 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through various funds.
  • Director Alexander Ott sold 200,000 shares for $23.55, generating $4.71 million from the sale.
  • VP of Marketing Douglas Laird sold 158,096 shares for $23.47, generating $3.71 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
  • Chief Technology Officer Jonas Nachmanson sold 120,000 shares for $23.72, generating $2.85 million from the sale.
  • Director Paul Wahl sold 115,976 shares for $23.77, generating $2.76 million from the sale.
  • EVP of Global Field Operations Leslie Bonney sold 40,687 shares for $24.04, generating $977,948 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 Qlik here.

P/E: 111.19Forward P/E: 45.78Industry P/E: 21.65
P/S: 8.02Price/Book: 11.42EV/EBITDA: 56.67
Market Cap: $1.82BAvg. Daily Volume: 927,10652 Week Range: $14 – $29.25

2. Continental Resources Inc. (CLR): $63.47

CEO & Chairman Harold Hamm sold 750,000 shares of this oil & gas company for $68.00, generating $51 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly from a trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Continental Resources here.

P/E: 64.11Forward P/E: 22.04Industry P/E: 15.91
P/S: 10.9Price/Book: 8.75EV/EBITDA: 19.82
Market Cap: $10.75BAvg. Daily Volume: 945,94452 Week Range: $37.02 – $63.95

3. Hess Corporation (HES): $80.18

Shares of this oil & gas company were sold by 5 insiders:

  • Chairman of the Board and CEO John B. Hess sold 279,839 shares for $84.09, generating $23.53 million from the sale. Half of these shares were sold from a charitable trust and the other shares were sold from a trust set up for the benefit of Mr. Hess.
  • Senior Vice President Lawrence H. Ornstein sold 27,000 shares for $79.16, generating $2.14 million from the sale. These shares were sold to satisfy tax withholding on vesting of shares of restricted stock.
  • Executive Vice President Borden Walker sold 16,676 shares for $82.91, generating $1.38 million from the sale. These shares were sold to satisfy tax withholding on vesting of shares of restricted stock.
  • Senior Vice President John P. Rielly sold 12,721 shares for $82.91, generating $1.05 million from the sale. These shares were sold to satisfy tax withholding on vesting of shares of restricted stock.
  • Senior Vice President John J. Scelfo sold 9,000 shares for $81.58, generating $734,220 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 Hess here.

P/E: 12.39Forward P/E: 10.45Industry P/E: 10.07
P/S: 0.78Price/Book: 1.58EV/EBITDA: 4.63
Market Cap: $26.85BAvg. Daily Volume: 3,094,54052 Week Range: $48.7 – $87.4

4. Domino’s Pizza, Inc. (DPZ): $17.86

Shares of this pizza chain were sold by 2 insiders:

  • Director David Brandon sold 1,654,838 shares for $17.01, generating $28,142,504 from the sale. 1,597,498 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
  • Chief Financial Officer Michael T. Lawton sold 14,583 shares for $17.06, generating $248,803 from the sale. 11,200 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale and the rest were sold from a 401(k) account.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Domino’s here.

P/E: 12.32Forward P/E: 11.09Industry P/E: 67.26
P/S: 0.67Price/Book: N/AEV/EBITDA: 9.53
Market Cap: $1.07BAvg. Daily Volume: 949,37352 Week Range: $10.66 – $18.13

5. Perry Ellis International Inc. (PERY): $26.71

Shares of this apparel company were sold by 2 insiders:

  • Chairman of the Board and CEO George Feldenkreis sold 300,000 shares for $28.00, generating $8,400,000 from the sale.
  • President and COO Oscar Feldenkreis sold 300,000 shares for $28.00, generating $8,400,000 from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a limited partnership.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Perry Ellis here.

P/E: 14.96Forward P/E: 10.35Industry P/E: 11.66
P/S: 0.49Price/Book: 1.31EV/EBITDA: 7.68
Market Cap: $377.79MAvg. Daily Volume: 136,90252 Week Range: $16.57 – $32.84

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