Happy New Year and welcome to edition 289 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying decreased last week with insiders buying $42.25 million of stock compared to $60.29 million in the week prior. Selling also decreased with insiders selling $359.11 million of stock last week compared to $522.92 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 dropped to 8.49. In other words, insiders sold more than 8 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 8.67. 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. Prospect Capital Corporation (PSEC): $6.98
Shares of this business development company were acquired by 2 insiders:
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Prospect Capital Corporation here.
P/E: 8.6 | Forward P/E: 6.91 | Industry P/E: 14.7 |
P/S: 3.15 | Price/Book: 0.69 | EV/EBITDA: N/A |
Market Cap: $2.48B | Avg. Daily Volume: 2,964,430 | 52 Week Range: $5.3 – $8.85 |
2. EXCO Resources Inc. (XCO): $1.24
Director John C. Wilder Jr. acquired 1,629,144 shares of this independent oil and natural gas company, paying $1.17 per share for a total amount of $1.91 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/A | Forward P/E: N/A | Industry P/E: 8.83 |
P/S: 0.75 | Price/Book: N/A | EV/EBITDA: 5.93 |
Market Cap: $349.86M | Avg. Daily Volume: 3,535,930 | 52 Week Range: $0.48 – $2.54 |
3. FS Investment Corporation (FSIC): $8.99
Chief Executive Officer Michael C. Forman acquired 85,110 shares of this business development company, paying $9.17 per share for a total amount of $780,181. These shares were purchased indirectly through Franklin Square Holdings, L.P.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for FS Investment Corporation here.
P/E: N/A | Forward P/E: N/A | Industry P/E: N/A |
P/S: N/A | Price/Book: N/A | EV/EBITDA: N/A |
Market Cap: $2.18B | Avg. Daily Volume: 1,822,397 | 52 Week Range: $6.91 – $10.52 |
4. Layne Christensen Company (LAYN): $5.26
Shares of this water management, construction and drilling company were acquired by 2 insiders:
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Layne Christensen Company here.
P/E: N/A | Forward P/E: N/A | Industry P/E: 13.72 |
P/S: 0.13 | Price/Book: 0.72 | EV/EBITDA: 25.57 |
Market Cap: $103.95M | Avg. Daily Volume: 163,858 | 52 Week Range: $3.75 – $10.51 |
5. Chimerix, Inc. (CMRX): $8.95
Shares of this biotech company were acquired by 2 insiders:
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Chimerix, Inc. here.
P/E: N/A | Forward P/E: N/A | Industry P/E: 30.68 |
P/S: 43.75 | Price/Book: 1.04 | EV/EBITDA: -1.94 |
Market Cap: $413.01M | Avg. Daily Volume: 1,688,020 | 52 Week Range: $6.43 – $58.04 |
You can view the full list of purchases from this Insider Buying page.
Notable Insider Sales:
1. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (PANW): $176.14
Director James J. Goetz sold 110,700 shares of this network security company for $176.23, generating $19.51 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by The Zteog Foundation.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Palo Alto Networks, Inc. here.
P/E: N/A | Forward P/E: 65.24 | Industry P/E: 43.77 |
P/S: 14.7 | Price/Book: 27.92 | EV/EBITDA: -136.92 |
Market Cap: $15.13B | Avg. Daily Volume: 1,544,090 | 52 Week Range: $117.6 – $200.55 |
2. salesforce.com, inc. (CRM): $78.4
Shares of this software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider were sold by 5 insiders:
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for salesforce.com, inc. here.
P/E: N/A | Forward P/E: 79.19 | Industry P/E: 35.02 |
P/S: 8.34 | Price/Book: 11.06 | EV/EBITDA: 131.97 |
Market Cap: $52.06B | Avg. Daily Volume: 3,495,420 | 52 Week Range: $54.95 – $82.9 |
3. Celgene Corporation (CELG): $119.76
Shares of this biotech company were sold by 2 insiders:
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Celgene Corporation here.
P/E: 60.12 | Forward P/E: 20.97 | Industry P/E: 30.68 |
P/S: 10.8 | Price/Book: 17.67 | EV/EBITDA: 35.61 |
Market Cap: $94.09B | Avg. Daily Volume: 4,873,610 | 52 Week Range: $92.98 – $140.72 |
4. Hawaiian Holdings Inc. (HA): $35.33
Director Zac Hirzel sold 157,870 shares of this airline company for $37.38, generating $5.9 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: 14.36 | Forward P/E: 10.04 | Industry P/E: 13.45 |
P/S: 0.84 | Price/Book: 5.16 | EV/EBITDA: 5.08 |
Market Cap: $1.88B | Avg. Daily Volume: 1,248,570 | 52 Week Range: $18.01 – $40.13 |
5. Accenture plc (ACN): $104.5
Shares of this management and technology consulting company were sold by 2 insiders:
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Accenture plc here.
P/E: 22.01 | Forward P/E: 18.27 | Industry P/E: 19.92 |
P/S: 2.13 | Price/Book: 11.22 | EV/EBITDA: 12.04 |
Market Cap: $65.62B | Avg. Daily Volume: 2,458,230 | 52 Week Range: $83.47 – $109.86 |
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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