Insider Weekends – March 11, 2016

Welcome to edition 299 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying increased last week with insiders buying $103.49 million of stock compared to $85.92 million in the week prior. Selling on the other hand decreased slightly with insiders selling $2.15 billion of stock last week compared to $2.2 billion in the week prior.

Amongst the insider purchases this week, the purchases by a trio of insiders at real estate investment and services company Kennedy-Wilson Holdings (KW) stood out the most and is probably worth exploring further. The company has been growing both the top line and their bottom line at a rapid clip over the last three years and the high valuation investors have afforded the company reflects this growth. As is usually the case with high growth companies, the stock can be very volatile and Kennedy-Wilson’s stock was no exception, losing 40% of its value from December 1, 2015 through February 11, 2016. Beyond general market weakness, I have not been able to determine a reason for this large drop. The stock recouped much of those losses over the last four weeks and it was interesting to see the insiders buy even after that recovery.

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 20.79. In other words, insiders sold almost 21 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 25.65. 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. Seattle Genetics, Inc. (SGEN): $33.36

Director Felix Baker acquired 1,043,989 shares of this biotech company, paying $32.36 per share for a total amount of $33.78 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Baker Bros. Advisors LP.

This is the fourth week in a row we have seen the Baker Bros add to their position.

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

2. Avangrid, Inc. (AGR): $38.32

Director Sanchez Galan Ignacio acquired 100,000 shares of this diversified energy and utility company, paying $38.47 per share for a total amount of $3.85 million.

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

3. Kennedy-Wilson Holdings, Inc. (KW): $21.97

Shares of this real estate investment and services company were acquired by 3 insiders:

• Chief Executive Officer William J. McMorrow acquired 100,000 shares, paying $20.74 per share for a total amount of $2.07 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.
• Executive Vice President Matthew Windisch acquired 10,000 shares, paying $20.74 per share for a total amount of $207,429. Mr. Windisch increased his stake by 1.64% to 621,279 shares with this purchase.
• General Counsel Kent Y. Mouton acquired 4,800 shares, paying $20.74 per share for a total amount of $99,565. Mr. Mouton increased his stake by 0.90% to 537,328 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Kennedy-Wilson Holdings, Inc. here.

4. TASER International Inc. (TASR): $19.53

Director Hadi Partovi acquired 100,000 shares of this Taser, paying $19.85 per share for a total amount of $1.99 million. Mr. Partovi increased his stake by 59.74% to 267,406 shares with this purchase.

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

5. EndoChoice Holdings, Inc. (GI): $4.86

Shares of this medical device company were acquired by 4 insiders:

• Director David L. Kaufman acquired 227,700 shares, paying $4.64 per share for a total amount of $1.06 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Envest III, LLC.
• Director J. Scott Carter acquired 71,595 shares, paying $4.67 per share for a total amount of $334,582. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.
• Director William R. Enquist acquired 10,000 shares, paying $4.74 per share for a total amount of $47,414. Mr. Enquist increased his stake by 88.89% to 21,250 shares with this purchase.
• Chief Financial Officer David N. Gill acquired 7,000 shares, paying $4.75 per share for a total amount of $33,250. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Allegiant Travel Company (ALGT): $169.97

CEO and President Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. sold 292,200 shares of this airline for $163.50, generating $47.77 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Allegiant Travel Company here.

2. Vector Group Ltd. (VGR): $23.24

Shares of this cigarettes company were sold by 2 insiders:

• President and CEO Howard M. Lorber sold 500,000 shares for $23.27, generating $11.64 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Lorber Alpha II Limited Partnership and Lorber Gamma Limited Partnership.
• Director Bennett S. Lebow sold 100,000 shares for $23.56, generating $2.36 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by LeBow Epsilon 2001 Limited Partnership.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Vector Group Ltd. here.

3. Fitbit Inc. (FIT): $14.51

Director Steven Joseph Murray sold 1,000,000 shares of this health and fitness tracking devices provider for $13.07, generating $13.07 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Softbank PrinceVille Investments, LP.

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

4. Cigna Corp. (CI): $144.62

Shares of this health services organization were sold by 2 insiders:

• President & CEO David Cordani sold 71,006 shares for $138.71, generating $9.85 million from the sale.
• Pres. US Comm Mkts & Gbl HC Op Matthew G. Manders sold 14,586 shares for $138.68, generating $2.02 million from the sale.

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

5. Atmel Corporation (ATML): $8.12

Shares of this semiconductor company were sold by 3 insiders:

• President & CEO Steven Laub sold 1,145,865 shares for $8.10, generating $9.28 million from the sale.
• SVP, General Manager Reza Kazerounian sold 239,979 shares for $8.10, generating $1.94 million from the sale.
• VP, CAO Hugo De La Torre sold 39,955 shares for $8.12, generating $324,435 from the sale.

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

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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