Insider Weekends – Akamai’s CEO Continues His Purchases

Welcome to edition 331 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying decreased last week with insiders buying $21.13 million of stock compared to $25.96 million in the week prior. Selling also decreased with insiders selling $424.51 million of stock last week compared to $641.89 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 dropped to 20.09. In other words, insiders sold more than 20 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 24.73. 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. Lands’ End, Inc. (LE): $15.45

10% Owner Edward S. Lampert acquired 156,858 shares of this apparel retailer, paying $14.84 per share for a total amount of $2.33 million.

Lands’ End also topped our list last week and we wrote the following about Mr. Lampert’s purchases,

These purchases follow a cluster of small purchases by Mr. Lampert and three other directors last week. At a time when most brick-and-mortar retailers are out of favor with investors, it is perplexing to see purchases of Land’s End by its insiders and especially by Mr. Lampert.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Lands’ End, Inc. here.

2. Cheniere Energy, Inc. (LNG): $41.39

President and CEO Jack A. Fusco acquired 37,007 shares of this liquefied natural gas company, paying $40.53 per share for a total amount of $1.49 million. Mr. Fusco increased his stake by 11.48% to 359,328 shares with this purchase. 18,503 of these shares were purchased indirectly by Fusco Energy Investments, LLP

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

3. Akamai Technologies, Inc. (AKAM): $57.67

Chief Executive Officer F. Thomson Leighton acquired 18,276 shares of this content delivery and cloud infrastructure company, paying $54.70 per share for a total amount of $999,697.  These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.

Following a $5 million purchase in February of this year, Mr. Leighton has been on a steady diet of $1 million per month of purchases over the last 8 months. This purchase plan was probably precipitated by a big drop in the stock from October 2015 through February 2016 when the stock lost nearly half its value. While the stock is up nearly 8% from the time his purchases began, the S&P 500 is up over 11% over the same time period.

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

4. Actuant Corporation (ATU): $22.5

President & CEO Randal W. Baker acquired 15,000 shares of this industrial products and systems company, paying $22.30 per share for a total amount of $334,500. Mr. Baker increased his stake by 18.90% to 94,376 shares with this purchase.

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

5. Cree, Inc. (CREE): $22.12

Shares of this LED, lighting, and semiconductor products company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Chairman, President and CEO Charles M. Swoboda acquired 10,000 shares, paying $22.22 per share for a total amount of $222,170. Mr. Swoboda increased his stake by 1.87% to 545,870 shares with this purchase.
• Director John B. Replogle acquired 5,000 shares, paying $22.34 per share for a total amount of $111,700. Mr. Replogle increased his stake by 10.54% to 52,444 shares with this purchase.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Facebook, Inc. (FB): $132.07

Shares of Facebook were sold by 6 insiders:

• Director Jan Koum sold 931,222 shares for $129.31, generating $120.42 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.
• Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg sold 366,104 shares for $129.38, generating $47.37 million from the sale. 157,212 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Chief Product Officer Christopher K. Cox sold 52,817 shares for $127.86, generating $6.75 million from the sale.
• Chief Technology Officer Michael Todd Schroepfer sold 31,283 shares for $127.93, generating $4 million from the sale.
• VP Marketing & Bus. Part. David B. Fischer sold 7,821 shares for $127.93, generating $1 million from the sale.
• VP and General Counsel Colin Stretch sold 750 shares for $128.78, generating $96,587 from the sale.

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

2. Papa John’s International Inc. (PZZA): $80.45

CEO John H. Schnatter sold 193,956 shares of this pizza delivery restaurant for $79.33, generating $15.39 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Papa John’s International Inc. here.

3. ServiceNow, Inc. (NOW): $80.06

Chief Product Officer Frederic B. Luddy sold 154,000 shares of this software-as-a-service provider for $75.52, generating $11.63 million from the sale.  These shares were sold indirectly through various trusts.

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

4. CSX Corp. (CSX): $30.29

Chairman and CEO Michael J. Ward sold 300,000 shares of this railroad company for $30.97, generating $9.29 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through various trusts.

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

5. Vantiv, Inc. (VNTV): $57.35

President & CEO Charles Drucker sold 98,882 shares of this electronic payment processing provider for $57.23, generating $5.66 million from the sale.

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

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

Disclaimer: I do not hold any positions in any of the stocks mentioned in this article. 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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