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Insider Weekends – December 25, 2015

  • December 27, 2015

Welcome to edition 288 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying declined significantly last week with insiders buying $60.29 million of stock compared to $308.73 million in the week prior. Selling also decreased with insiders selling $522.92 million of stock last week compared to $871.89 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 8.67. In other words, insiders sold more than 8 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 2.82. 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 December 25, 2015
Insider Sell Buy Ratio December 25, 2015

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. Prospect Capital Corporation (PSEC): $7.29

Shares of this business development company were acquired by 2 insiders:

  • Chief Executive Officer John F. Barry acquired 3,595,500 shares, paying $6.78 per share for a total amount of $24.37 million. Mr. Barry increased his stake by 49.18% to 10,906,700 shares with this purchase.
  • Chief Operating Officer M. Grier Eliasek acquired 205,000 shares, paying $6.76 per share for a total amount of $1.38 million. Mr. Eliasek increased his stake by 55.08% to 577,196 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Prospect Capital Corporation here.

P/E: 8.98Forward P/E: 7.22Industry P/E: 13.7
P/S: 3.25Price/Book: 0.71EV/EBITDA: N/A
Market Cap: $2.59BAvg. Daily Volume: 2,983,48052 Week Range: $5.3 – $8.85

2. Actuant Corporation (ATU): $24.77

Shares of this diversified machinery company were acquired by 3 insiders:

  • President and CEO Robert C. Arzbaecher acquired 210,000 shares, paying $23.71 per share for a total amount of $4.98 million. Mr. Arzbaecher increased his stake by 113.95% to 394,294 shares with this purchase.
  • Executive Vice President – CFO Andrew Lampereur acquired 20,000 shares, paying $23.12 per share for a total amount of $462,400. Mr. Lampereur increased his stake by 6.31% to 337,058 shares with this purchase.
  • EVP-Human Resources Eugene Edward Skogg acquired 5,000 shares, paying $23.68 per share for a total amount of $118,400. Mr. Skogg increased his stake by 11.01% to 50,415 shares with this purchase.

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

P/E: 143.18Forward P/E: 15.58Industry P/E: 18.45
P/S: 1.18Price/Book: 2.17EV/EBITDA: 10.37
Market Cap: $1.48BAvg. Daily Volume: 909,28452 Week Range: $17.02 – $27.88

3. Sears Holdings Corporation (SHLD): $20.79

Shares of this department stores chain were acquired by 2 insiders:

  • Chief Executive Officer Edward S. Lampert acquired 192,433 shares, paying $19.68 per share for a total amount of $3.79 million. Mr. Lampert increased his stake by 0.63% to 30,670,247 shares with this purchase.
  • 10% Owner Bruce R. Berkowitz acquired 19,400 shares, paying $19.42 per share for a total amount of $376,748. These shares were acquired indirectly through a fund.

There were some sales of Sears reported by Mr. Berkowitz as well but those were sales from managed accounts as instructed by clients. It is interesting to see both Mr. Lampert and Mr. Berkowitz continue to accumulate shares. Between them and their various entities, they already own more than half of the company.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Sears Holdings Corporation here.

P/E: N/AForward P/E: N/AIndustry P/E: 19.31
P/S: 0.09Price/Book: N/AEV/EBITDA: -6.08
Market Cap: $2.22BAvg. Daily Volume: 650,17552 Week Range: $18.03 – $46.23

4. Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (PAGP): $9.89

Director John T. Raymond acquired 423,954 shares of this logistics provider for crude oil and natural gas products, paying $7.40 per share for a total amount of $3.14 million. Mr. Raymond increased his stake by 282.64% to 573,954 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Plains GP Holdings, L.P. here.

P/E: 19.98Forward P/E: 9.51Industry P/E: 19.34
P/S: 0.08Price/Book: 1.22EV/EBITDA: 7.11
Market Cap: $2.25BAvg. Daily Volume: 4,454,86052 Week Range: $7.18 – $29.87

5. EXCO Resources Inc. (XCO): $1.13

Director John C. Wilder acquired 2,592,848 shares of this independent oil and natural gas company, paying $0.96 per share for a total amount of $2.49 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Energy Strategic Advisory Services LLC.

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

P/E: N/AForward P/E: N/AIndustry P/E: 7.61
P/S: 0.85Price/Book: N/AEV/EBITDA: 5.84
Market Cap: $318.82MAvg. Daily Volume: 3,484,91052 Week Range: $0.48 – $2.54

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. IRadimed Corporation (IRMD): $26.18

CEO, President Roger E. Susi sold 1,043,479 shares of this medical appliances & equipment company for $23.28, generating $24.29 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.

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

P/E: 58.31Forward P/E: 31.93Industry P/E: N/A
P/S: 11.74Price/Book: 10.93EV/EBITDA: 30.78
Market Cap: $319.44MAvg. Daily Volume: 78,59852 Week Range: $12.61 – $33.25

2. SL Green Realty Corp. (SLG): $113.05

Chief Executive Officer Marc Holliday sold 145,000 shares of this office REIT for $110.25, generating $15.99 million rom the sale. 34,656 of these shares were sold indirectly by Holliday Family Investments, LLC.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for SL Green Realty Corp. here.

P/E: 49.63Forward P/E: 16.41Industry P/E: 19.11
P/S: 6.87Price/Book: 1.61EV/EBITDA: 22.99
Market Cap: $11.28BAvg. Daily Volume: 577,27552 Week Range: $99.97 – $135.81

3. Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (SIX): $54.63

Shares of this theme park operator were sold by 2 insiders:

  • Chairman, President & CEO James Reid-Anderson sold 138,111 shares for $53.94, generating $7.45 million from the sale.
  • Director Usman Nabi sold 34,103 shares for $53.60, generating $1.83 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Six Flags Entertainment Corporation here.

P/E: 45.3Forward P/E: 30.69Industry P/E: 24.15
P/S: 4.03Price/Book: 31.2EV/EBITDA: 15.22
Market Cap: $5.02BAvg. Daily Volume: 750,33652 Week Range: $41.6 – $54.86

4. salesforce.com, inc. (CRM): $77.83

Shares of this software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider were sold by 4 insiders:

  • Chairman of the Board & CEO Marc Benioff sold 75,000 shares for $77.66, generating $5.82 million from the sale.
  • EVP, General Counsel Amy E. Weaver sold 7,962 shares for $78.63, generating $626,075 from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
  • Pres., Sales & Cust. Success Maria Martinez sold 2,471 shares for $78.33, generating $193,553 from the sale.
  • Director John Victor Roos sold 267 shares for $77.52, generating $20,698 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for salesforce.com, inc. here.

P/E: N/AForward P/E: 78.62Industry P/E: 34.95
P/S: 8.22Price/Book: 10.91EV/EBITDA: 131.03
Market Cap: $51.68BAvg. Daily Volume: 3,657,70052 Week Range: $54.95 – $82.9

5. Hawaiian Holdings Inc. (HA): $37.15

Director Zac Hirzel sold 142,130 shares of this airline company for $37.57, generating $5.34 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Hirzel Capital.

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

P/E: 15.1Forward P/E: 10.55Industry P/E: 13.4
P/S: 0.86Price/Book: 5.28EV/EBITDA: 5.3
Market Cap: $1.98BAvg. Daily Volume: 1,254,03052 Week Range: $18.01 – $40.13

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

Disclaimer Clients of Signal Partners, LLC  and I may have positions in any of these stocks at any time. Please do your own due diligence before buying or selling any securities mentioned in this article. We do not warrant the completeness or accuracy of the content or data provided in this article.

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