Insider Weekends – ValueAct Adds to its FOX Stake

Happy Holidays and welcome to edition 340 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying increased last week with insiders buying $131.59 million of stock compared to $64.58 million in the week prior. Selling on the other hand declined significantly with insiders selling $731.32 million of stock last week compared to $1.68 billion in the week prior. More than half the insider buying last week was on account of Director Jeffrey Ubben of activist value-oriented fund ValueAct Capital buying $83.34 million worth of Twenty-First Century Fox (FOX). Beyond this purchase, pickings were slim on the buy side as we approach the end of the quarter.

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 5.56. In other words, insiders sold more than 5 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 25.99. 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. Newcastle Investment Corp. (NCT): $4.31

Director Wesley R. Edens acquired 1,000,000 shares of this mortgage REIT, paying $4.37 per share for a total amount of $4.37 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.

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

2. Inovalon Holdings, Inc. (INOV): $9.8

Shares of this cloud-based data analytics company were acquired by 3 insiders:

• Director Andre S. Hoffmann acquired 200,000 shares, paying $9.29 per share for a total amount of $1.86 million. Mr. Hoffmann increased his stake by 182.55% to 309,559 shares with this purchase.
• Director William J. Teuber Jr. acquired 26,000 shares, paying $9.25 per share for a total amount of $240,500. Mr. Teuber increased his stake by 37.38% to 95,559 shares with this purchase.
• President Robert A. Wychulis acquired 1,675 shares, paying $9.29 per share for a total amount of $15,566. Mr. Wychulis increased his stake by 5.36% to 32,942 shares with this purchase.

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

3. DDR Corp. (DDR): $14.87

Director Alexander Otto acquired 86,000 shares of this shopping center REIT, paying $14.82 per share for a total amount of $1.27 million. Mr. Otto increased his stake by 0.20% to 42,603,920 shares with this purchase.

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

4. Gran Tierra Energy Inc. (GTE): $2.84

Shares of this energy company were acquired by 4 insiders:

• Director Ronald Royal acquired 115,000 shares, paying $2.92 per share for a total amount of $335,800. Mr. Royal increased his stake by 82.34% to 254,667 shares with this purchase.
• Director David P. Smith acquired 65,000 shares, paying $2.91 per share for a total amount of $189,150. Mr. Smith increased his stake by 185.71% to 100,000 shares with this purchase. 35,000 of these shares were purchased indirectly by Mr. Smith’s spouse.
• VP, Legal and General Counsel David Eldon Hardy acquired 24,000 shares, paying $2.88 per share for a total amount of $69,060.
• VP Health, Safety and Environment & Corp. Social Responsibility Ed Caldwell acquired 15,000 shares, paying $2.92 per share for a total amount of $43,800.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Gran Tierra Energy Inc. here.

5. Abbott Laboratories (ABT): $38.42

Executive Vice President Brian J. Blaser acquired 15,580 shares of this health care company, paying $38.45 per share for a total amount of $599,120. Mr. Blaser increased his stake by 12.03% to 145,062 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Abbott Laboratories here.

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Facebook, Inc. (FB): $117.27

Shares of Facebook were sold by 3 insiders:

• COB and CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 798,076 shares for $119.04, generating $94.99 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation.
• Chief Product Officer Christopher K. Cox sold 5,934 shares for $120.55, generating $715,337 from the sale.
• VP and General Counsel Colin Stretch sold 750 shares for $119.30, generating $89,477 from the sale.

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

2. Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET): $96.93

President and CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 394,775 shares of this networking solutions provider for $98.07, generating $38.7 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through various trusts.

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

3. Spark Therapeutics, Inc. (ONCE): $51.68

Director Anand Mehra sold 349,656 shares of this biotech company for $53.46, generating $18.69 million from the sale.

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

4. CommScope Holding Company, Inc. (COMM): $37.16

Shares of this communication equipment company were sold by 2 insiders:

• Director Frank M. Drendel sold 280,779 shares for $36.64, generating $10.29 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through various trusts.
• President and CEO Marvin S. Edwards Jr. sold 200,000 shares for $37.09, generating $7.42 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for CommScope Holding Company, Inc. here.

5. SL Green Realty Corp. (SLG): $105.59

Shares of this office REIT  were sold by 2 insiders:

• Chief Executive Officer Marc Holliday sold 141,000 shares for $108.61, generating $15.31 million from the sale.
• Director Betsy S. Atkins sold 2,000 shares for $108.53, generating $217,060 from the sale.

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

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

Disclaimer: 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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