Insider Weekends – August 26, 2011

  • August 27, 2011

Welcome to edition sixty four of Insider Weekends. Insider buying increased with insiders purchasing $216.1 million of their stock last week when compared to $130.3 million in the week prior. Selling on the other hand decreased with insiders selling $218.7 million worth of stock compared to $680.3 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 purchases that week. The adjusted ratio for last dropped down to 1.01. In other words, insiders sold almost the same amount of stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the week prior when the ratio stood at 5.2. This is the first time since we started tracking this data that insider purchases have almost equaled insider sales. 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 August 26, 2011
Insider Sell Buy Ratio August 26, 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. Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (PAA): $59.71

Director John T. Raymond acquired 265,462 shares of this oil & gas pipelines company, paying $59.30 per share for a total amount of $15.7 million. Mr. Raymond increased his stake by 61.13% to 699,704 shares with this purchase.

This insider purchase stood out because it follows in the footsteps of the huge $445 million sale by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen as you can see from this page. This Master Limited Partnership (MLP) sports a yield of 6.7%.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. here.

P/E: 19.81Forward P/E: 15.59Industry P/E: 19.34
P/S: 0.29Price/Book: 1.76EV/EBITDA: 12.07
Market Cap: $8.92BAvg. Daily Volume: 589,55852 Week Range: $56.41 – $65.96

2. Energy Transfer Equity, L.P. (ETE): $37.44

Director Kelcy L. Warren acquired 250,952 shares of this oil & gas pipelines company, paying $37.93 per share for a total amount of $9.5 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Kelcy Warren Partners, LP.

This is the second insider purchase by a director of ETE this month. Mr. Warren also picked up $31.6 million worth of stock in July, three weeks after announcing a $7.89 billion bid for Southern Union Company (SUG). Both The Williams Companies (WMB) and ETE are in a bidding war for SUG and you can follow the twists and turns of their competing bid from this merger arbitrage page on our sister site (click on the + next to SUG to view details).

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Energy Transfer Equity, L.P. here.

P/E: 39.16Forward P/E: 17.74Industry P/E: 19.34
P/S: 1.12Price/Book: N/AEV/EBITDA: 11.64
Market Cap: $8.35BAvg. Daily Volume: 604,87152 Week Range: $33.21 – $47.34

3. NuStar GP Holdings, LLC (NSH): $33.52

Director William E. Greehey acquired 219,761 shares of this oil storage and pipeline company, paying $32.97 per share for a total amount of $7.2 million. Mr. Greehey increased his stake by 3.02% to 7,504,616 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for NuStar GP Holdings, LLC here.

P/E: 21.91Forward P/E: 18.42Industry P/E: 19.34
P/S: 20.84Price/Book: 2.67EV/EBITDA: N/A
Market Cap: $1.43BAvg. Daily Volume: 90,11952 Week Range: $29.04 – $39.98

4. Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. (OSG): $15.81

Shares of this oil tanker company were acquired by 3 insiders:

  • Director Oudi Recanati acquired 250,000 shares, paying $15.47 per share for a total amount of $3.9 million. Mr. Recanati increased his stake by 24.96% to 1,251,710 shares with this purchase.
  • Director Charles Fribourg acquired 130,813 shares, paying $15.26 per share for a total amount of $1.9 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through an entity.
  • Director Solomon N. Merkin acquired 800 shares, paying $15.35 per share for a total amount of $12,280. Mr. Merkin increased his stake by 4.44% to 18,800 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. here.

P/E: N/AForward P/E: N/AIndustry P/E: 10.23
P/S: 0.45Price/Book: 0.27EV/EBITDA: 102.27
Market Cap: $481.64MAvg. Daily Volume: 833,24652 Week Range: $14.77 – $38.32

5. ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc. (ZIOP): $5.24

Director Randal J. Kirk acquired 499,940 shares of this biotech company, paying $4.93 per share for a total amount of $2.5 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Kapital Joe, LLC. Randal J. Kirk, a Virginia biotech investor with an estimated net worth of $2.2 billion, controls Kapital Joe, LLC.

Mr. Kirk has acquired shares of Ziopharm several times this month even as the stock continues to drop as you can see from this page.

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

P/E: N/AForward P/E: N/AIndustry P/E: N/A
P/S: 1Price/Book: 4.08EV/EBITDA: -5.6
Market Cap: $356.65MAvg. Daily Volume: 593,28352 Week Range: $3.52 – $7.85

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Intuit Inc. (INTU): $46.56

Shares of this accounting and tax software company were sold by 2 insiders:

  • Chairman, Executive Committee Scott D. Cook sold 500,000 shares for $44.11, generating $22.06 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by trusts.
  • EVP, Small Business Group Kiran M. Patel sold 100,000 shares for $44.13, generating $4.4 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 Intuit Inc. here.

P/E: 23.28Forward P/E: 16.39Industry P/E: 22.67
P/S: 3.5Price/Book: 5.15EV/EBITDA: 10.21
Market Cap: $14.06BAvg. Daily Volume: 3,339,80052 Week Range: $39.87 – $56.46

2. Hansen Natural Corporation (HANS): $84.63

Shares of this beverage company were sold by 3 insiders:

  • Chairman and CEO Rodney C. Sacks sold 133,012 shares for $84.93, generating $11.3 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Hilrod Holdings. 35,000 of these shares were sold indirectly by GRAT.
  • Vice Chairman and President Hilton H. Schlosberg sold 98,012 shares for $84.88, generating $8.3 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Hilrod Holdings.
  • Senior VP – Hansen Beverage Co Thomas J. Kelly sold 9,600 shares for $84.83, generating $814,368 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 Hansen Natural Corporation here.

P/E: 30.99Forward P/E: 23.77Industry P/E: 17.09
P/S: 4.93Price/Book: 7.88EV/EBITDA: 16.08
Market Cap: $7.50BAvg. Daily Volume: 1,114,66052 Week Range: $44.5 – $87.37

3. Douglas Emmett Inc (DEI): $17.38

Chief Operating Officer Kenneth M. Panzer sold 1 million shares of this real estate investment trust for $17.61, generating $17.6 million from the sale.

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

P/E: N/AForward P/E: 12.78Industry P/E: 13.22
P/S: 3.8Price/Book: 1.19EV/EBITDA: 16.45
Market Cap: $2.22BAvg. Daily Volume: 1,806,44052 Week Range: $15.53 – $21.08

4. Tutor Perini Corporation (TPC): $13.09

Chairman & CEO Ronald N. Tutor sold 587,853 shares of this construction services company for $13.05, generating $7.7 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Tutor Perini Corporation here.

P/E: 8.19Forward P/E: 5.45Industry P/E: 13.28
P/S: 0.21Price/Book: 0.45EV/EBITDA: 4.92
Market Cap: $618.97MAvg. Daily Volume: 421,38252 Week Range: $11.71 – $26.87

5. America’s Car-Mart Inc. (CRMT): $30.05

Shares of this used car dealership company were sold by 2 insiders:

  • Director Tilman J. Falgout sold 220,000 shares for $29.47, generating $6.5 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by a corporation controlled by Mr. Falgout.
  • Chief Executive Officer William H. Henderson sold 6,000 shares for $29.69, generating $178,140 from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.

With the threat of another recession upon us, one would expect car dealership companies like America’s Car-Mart and Lithia Motors (LAD) to sell-off sharply but interestingly both these stocks are only off about 20% from their peak in July.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for America’s Car-Mart Inc. here.

P/E: 11.5Forward P/E: 9Industry P/E: 12.3
P/S: 0.76Price/Book: 1.65EV/EBITDA: 6.99
Market Cap: $303.81MAvg. Daily Volume: 77,69952 Week Range: $22.77 – $37.5

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