Insider Weekends – October 25, 2013

Welcome to edition 175 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying decreased sharply with insiders purchasing $14.71 million of their stock last week compared to $75.98 million in the week prior. Selling increased with insiders selling $1.09 billion of stock last week compared to $729.32 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 week went up to 74.57. In other words, insiders sold more than 74 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 9.6. 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, 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. Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. (HLX): $24.04

President & CEO Owen E. Kratz acquired 50,000 shares of this offshore energy services company, paying $23.05 per share for a total amount of $1.15 million. Mr. Kratz increased his stake by 0.97% to 5,206,597 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. here.

2. Coach, Inc. (COH): $49.89

Chairman and CEO Lew Frankfort acquired 21,000 shares of this luxury accessories and apparel company, paying $48.38 per share for a total amount of $1.02 million. Mr. Frankfort increased his stake by 1.03% to 2,053,141 shares with this purchase.

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

Voluntary Disclosure: I have a long position in Coach.

3. SunTrust Banks, Inc. (STI): $33.71

Director David M. Ratcliffe acquired 20,000 shares of this bank holding company, paying $33.30 per share for a total amount of $666,000.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for SunTrust Banks, Inc. here.

4. Simmons First National Corporation (SFNC): $33.04

CEO Elect George Makris Jr. acquired 19,308 shares of this regional bank, paying $32.25 per share for a total amount of $622,683. Mr. Makris increased his stake by 38.52% to 69,433 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Simmons First National Corporation here.

5. Opko Health, Inc. (OPK): $10.74

CEO & Chairman Phillip Frost M.D. acquired 42,700 shares of this medical devices and drug development company, paying $11.62 per share for a total amount of $496,368. These shares were purchased indirectly by Frost Gamma Investments Trust.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. WebMD Health Corp. (WBMD): $35.49

Carl C. Icahn sold 5,527,433 shares of health information services provider for $32.08, generating $177.32 million from the sale.

It is interesting to see Carl Icahn sell half his stake in Netflix and his full stake in WebMD within days of each other.

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

2. The Blackstone Group L.P. (BX): $26.71

President and COO Hamilton E. James sold 3,250,000 shares of this private equity firm for $27.26, generating $88.61 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for The Blackstone Group L.P. here.

3. Seagate Technology Public Limited Company (STX): $49.8

Chairman, President and CEO Stephen J. Luczo sold 350,000 shares of this data storage company for $50.01, generating $17.5 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Seagate Technology Public Limited Company here.

4. Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL): $26.31

Shares of this airline were sold by 3 insiders:

• Chief Executive Officer Richard H. Anderson sold 400,000 shares for $25.63, generating $10.25 million from the sale. 58,506 of these shares were sold indirectly by Mr. Anderson’s wife.
• President Edward H. Bastian sold 100,000 shares for $26.36, generating $2.64 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• VP and Chief Accounting Officer Craig M. Meynard sold 3,549 shares for $26.17, generating $92,881 from the sale.

Delta Airlines has been my brother’s favorite stock for some time now and the stock has done very well over the last year, up more than 170%.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Delta Air Lines Inc. here.

5. PVH Corp. (PVH): $118.55

Shares of this apparel company were sold by 2 insiders:

• CEO of Tommy Hilfiger Fred Gehring sold 81,799 shares for $121.44, generating $9.93 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Elmira 5 B.V.
• COO of Tommy Hilfiger Ludovicus Rudolph Onnink sold 16,487 shares for $121.44, generating $2 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Elmira 5 B.V.

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

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