Welcome to edition eighty eight of Insider Weekends. Insider buying increased with insiders purchasing $63.5 million of their stock last week compared to $35.1 million in the week prior. Selling decreased with insiders selling $939.76 million worth of stock last week compared to $1.2 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 decreased to 14.81. In other words, insiders sold nearly 15 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the week prior when the ratio stood at 35.1.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. Urstadt Biddle Properties Inc. (UBP): $19.26
Shares of this commercial REIT were acquired by 2 insiders:
Given that the number of shares and purchase price were the same for both purchases, I checked the historical prices and volume for this REIT and this was indeed an open market purchase. Both Mr. Urstadt and Mr. Biddle have frequently purchased shares over the last year as you can see from this page but this is their largest purchase. The stock sports a yield of 4.6%, which is higher than the 3.84% average yield of industrial/office REITs.
The stock isn’t particularly cheap and the only reason I can ascertain for these purchases is improving business conditions. The company stated as much while reporting its fiscal fourth quarter and full year results when it said, “At October 31, 2011, our core portfolio was 90.5% leased and we have considerable new leasing activity across the portfolio. In addition, we have a good pipeline of acquisitions and hope to continue to inc rease our asset base into fiscal 2012 and beyond.“. The company also raised its dividend for the 18th straight year.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Urstadt Biddle Properties Inc. here.
P/E: 29.77 | Forward P/E: N/A | Industry P/E: N/A |
P/S: 5.96 | Price/Book: 2.26 | EV/EBITDA: 12.88 |
Market Cap: $536.06M | Avg. Daily Volume: 12,744 | 52 Week Range: $12.6 – $20.05 |
2. Halliburton Company (HAL): $36.06
Director Murry Gerber acquired 30,000 shares of this oil & gas services provider, paying $36.84 per share for a total amount of $1.1 million. Mr. Gerber increased his stake by 1,500% to 32,000 shares with this purchase.
Mr. Gerber was named to Halliburton’s board last month and will be confirmed during the annual meeting in May 2012. Since new directors generally tend to buy shares, I would not read much into this purchase.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Halliburton Company Common Stoc here.
P/E: 11.71 | Forward P/E: 7.91 | Industry P/E: 16.18 |
P/S: 1.36 | Price/Book: 2.57 | EV/EBITDA: 5.76 |
Market Cap: $33.21B | Avg. Daily Volume: 17,735,900 | 52 Week Range: $27.21 – $57.77 |
3. ShoreTel, Inc. (SHOR): $5.74
Shares of this phone equipment and services provider were acquired by 2 insiders:
The company has seen rapid revenue growth but remains unprofitable. ShoreTel did manage to generate $3.6 million in free cash flow when it reported fiscal Q1 results ended September 30, 2011.
Voluntary Disclosure: I have a long position in ShoreTel.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for ShoreTel, Inc. here.
P/E: N/A | Forward P/E: 23.92 | Industry P/E: 13.86 |
P/S: 1.26 | Price/Book: 2.25 | EV/EBITDA: -33.71 |
Market Cap: $275.20M | Avg. Daily Volume: 311,198 | 52 Week Range: $4.57 – $12 |
4. Meru Networks, Inc. (MERU): $3.65
Shares of this wireless networking company were acquired by 3 insiders:
The stock of Meru Networks has been absolutely annihilated over the last year, dropping over 80% from $18.50 to current levels. Revenue growth has been slow and the company has continued to report a string of losses quarter after quarter thanks to growing SG&A (Selling, General & Administrative) expenses. The company has $40.26 million or $2.29/share in net cash and short-term investments on its balance sheet.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Meru Networks, Inc. here.
P/E: N/A | Forward P/E: N/A | Industry P/E: 13.52 |
P/S: 0.71 | Price/Book: 1.98 | EV/EBITDA: -1.77 |
Market Cap: $64.30M | Avg. Daily Volume: 172,190 | 52 Week Range: $3.16 – $27.33 |
5. Dominion Resources, Inc. (D): $49.91
Director Mark J. Kington acquired 5,000 shares of this electric utility, paying $50.33 per share for a total amount of $251,630. Mr. Kington increased his stake by 14.03% to 40,649 shares with this purchase.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Dominion Resources, Inc. Common here.
P/E: 19.12 | Forward P/E: 14.47 | Industry P/E: N/A |
P/S: 1.9 | Price/Book: 2.44 | EV/EBITDA: 9.53 |
Market Cap: $28.43B | Avg. Daily Volume: 2,720,870 | 52 Week Range: $42.91 – $53.68 |
You can view the full list of purchases from this Insider Buying page.
Notable Insider Sales:
1. Medivation, Inc. (MDVN): $67.935
Shares of this biotech company were sold by 3 insiders:
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Medivation, Inc. here.
P/E: N/A | Forward P/E: N/A | Industry P/E: 16.4 |
P/S: 38.64 | Price/Book: N/A | EV/EBITDA: -72.5 |
Market Cap: $2.37B | Avg. Daily Volume: 691,958 | 52 Week Range: $14.32 – $76.65 |
2. J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT): $52.31
Shares of this trucking company were sold by 4 insiders:
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for J.B. Hunt Transport Services, I here.
P/E: 24.79 | Forward P/E: 17.91 | Industry P/E: 20.27 |
P/S: 1.36 | Price/Book: 10.85 | EV/EBITDA: 10.47 |
Market Cap: $6.12B | Avg. Daily Volume: 931,589 | 52 Week Range: $34.42 – $53.02 |
3. Viacom Inc. (VIAB): $49.22
Shares of this entertainment company were sold by four insiders:
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Viacom Inc. here.
P/E: 16.48 | Forward P/E: 9.79 | Industry P/E: N/A |
P/S: 1.78 | Price/Book: 3.35 | EV/EBITDA: 8.13 |
Market Cap: $26.61B | Avg. Daily Volume: 4,270,630 | 52 Week Range: $35.13 – $52.67 |
4. Bankrate, Inc. (RATE): $24.31
Shares of this internet-based consumer banking and personal finance network were sold by 4 insiders:
Bankrate went public last June at $15/share and has seen its stock climb steadily since. It looks like executives are selling now that their lock-up period has expired.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Bankrate, Inc. Common Stock here.
P/E: N/A | Forward P/E: 22.51 | Industry P/E: 27.8 |
P/S: 5.68 | Price/Book: 3.06 | EV/EBITDA: 19.78 |
Market Cap: $2.43B | Avg. Daily Volume: 531,245 | 52 Week Range: $13.38 – $25.65 |
5. BE Aerospace, Inc. (BEAV): $45.78
Shares of this aircraft products company were sold by 6 insiders:
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for BE Aerospace, Inc. here.
P/E: 20.44 | Forward P/E: 13.5 | Industry P/E: 16.32 |
P/S: 1.87 | Price/Book: 2.5 | EV/EBITDA: 11.68 |
Market Cap: $4.64B | Avg. Daily Volume: 828,003 | 52 Week Range: $28.83 – $46.42 |
You can view the full list of sales from this Insider Sales page.