Insider Weekends – February 24, 2012

Welcome to edition ninety of Insider Weekends. Insider buying decreased with insiders purchasing $40.5 million of their stock last week compared to $67.4 million in the week prior. Selling also decreased with insiders selling $1.35 billion worth of stock last week compared to $1.4 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 increased to 33.3. In other words, insiders sold more than 33 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the week prior when the ratio stood at 20.8.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. OPKO Health Inc. (OPK): $4.79

CEO & Chairman Phillip Frost M.D. acquired 500,000 shares of this medical appliances & equipment company, paying $4.72 per share for a total amount of $2.4 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through Frost Gamma Investments Trust.

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

2. Kronos Worldwide Inc (KRO): $22.69

Chairman of the Board Harold C. Simmons acquired 200,000 shares of this titanium dioxide pigments producer, paying $22.29 per share for a total amount of $4.5 million.

Half of these shares were purchased directly and the other half were purchased indirectly by Mr. Simmons’ spouse.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Kronos Worldwide Inc here.

3. Dell Inc. (DELL): $17.43

President John A. Swainson acquired 100,000 shares of Dell, paying $17.25 per share for a total amount of $1.7 million.

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

4. XL Group plc (XL): $20.08

Shares of this insurance company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• CEO Michael S. Mcgavick acquired 25,115 shares, paying $19.94 per share for a total amount of $500,846. Mr. Mcgavick increased his stake by 17.69% to 167,115 shares with this purchase.
• Chief Financial Officer Peter R. Porrino acquired 12,660 shares, paying $20.05 per share for a total amount of $253,823.

CFO purchases usually generate a lot of interest but investors essentially shrugged off these two purchases that were filed before market open on Tuesday, February 21, 2012. At first blush the numbers don’t look very attractive and I can see why investors passed on XL Group.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for XL Group plc here.

5. Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD): $45.26

Director Per Wold-Olsen acquired 10,000 shares of this biotech company, paying $44.00 per share for a total amount of $439,955. Mr. Wold increased his stake by 62.12% to 26,097 shares with this purchase.

Gilead saw its stock come under pressure after it announced the Pharmasset acquisition and just as the stock recovered it was hit once again by disappointing results for a Hepatitis C drug. This is a company I have followed for several years and it will be the subject of our next weekly focus article.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Gilead Sciences, Inc. here.

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. ProLogis, Inc. (PLD): $33.88

Shares of this international industrial property REIT were sold by 2 insiders:

• Co-Chief Executive Officer Walter C. Rakowich sold 290,000 shares for $33.85, generating $9.8 million from the sale.
• Chief Financial Officer William E. Sullivan sold 73,244 shares for $33.47, generating $2.5 million from the sale. 41,850 of 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 ProLogis, Inc. Common Stock here.

2. International Business Machines (IBM): $197.76

Shares of IBM were sold by 3 insiders:

• Senior Vice President Jon C. Iwata sold 21,451 shares for $198.74, generating $4.3 million from the sale.
• Senior Vice President Timothy S. Shaughnessy sold 20,562 shares for $193.60, generating $3.9 million from the sale.
• Director Kenneth I. Chenault sold 4,000 shares for $192.50, generating $770,012 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 International Business Machines here.

3. Bank of the Ozarks (OZRK): $29.38

Chairman & CEO George G. Gleason II sold 138,700 shares of this regional bank for $29.63, generating $4.1 million from the sale.

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

4. Riverbed Technology, Inc. (RVBD): $27.82

Shares of this network products company were sold by 2 insiders:

• Chief Technology Officer Steven McCanne sold 247,019 shares for $27.92, generating $6.9 million from the sale.
• Exec. VP, Marketing & Business Development Eric Wolford sold 40,000 shares for $28.04, generating $1.1 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 Riverbed Technology, Inc. here.

5. Henry Schein, Inc. (HSIC): $74.74

Shares of this healthcare products & services distributor were sold by 2 insiders:

• Chairman, CEO Stanley M. Bergman sold 42,000 shares for $74.17, generating $3.1 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Mr. Bergman’s spouse.
• EVP, CFO Steven Paladino sold 26,000 shares for $74.87, generating $1.9 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 Henry Schein, Inc. here.

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