Insider Weekends – Insiders of Entercom Communications Buy Stock After CBS Radio Merger

Welcome to edition 388 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying increased last week with insiders purchasing $169.97 million of stock compared to $145.74 million in the week prior. Selling decreased with insiders selling $3 billion of stock last week compared to $3.47 billion in the week prior.

There were several interesting insider purchases that did not make our notable insider buys list and I have captured some of them in a Twitter moment that you can check out here.

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 17.64. In other words, insiders sold almost 18 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favourably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 23.79.

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. General Electric Company (GE): $18.19

Shares of General Electric were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Director James S. Tisch acquired 3,000,000 shares, paying $17.90 per share for a total amount of $53.71 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Loews Corp.
• Director Francisco D’Souza acquired 55,000 shares, paying $17.94 per share for a total amount of $986,700. Mr. D’Souza increased his stake by 150.68% to 91,500 shares with this purchase.

These purchases follow a $1.1 million purchase by the new CEO of GE in the week prior. The purchase represents nearly half his annual base salary. Former CEO Jeff Immelt also made several million dollar plus purchases at much higher prices but that didn’t do much for the stock.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for General Electric Company here.

2. Prospect Capital Corporation (PSEC): $6.8

Chief Executive Officer John F. Barry acquired 2,039,269 shares of this business development company, paying $6.94 per share for a total amount of $14.14 million. Mr. Barry increased his stake by 8.42% to 26,262,799 shares with this purchase.

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

3. Genesis Energy, L.P. (GEL): $21.58

Shares of this oil & gas pipelines company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Director James E. Davison acquired 100,000 shares, paying $21.58 per share for a total amount of $2.16 million. Mr. Davison increased his stake by 4.24% to 2,455,994 shares with this purchase.
• Chief Financial Officer Robert V. Deere acquired 45,000 shares, paying $21.71 per share for a total amount of $976,950. Mr. Deere increased his stake by 5.74% to 828,935 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Genesis Energy, L.P. here.

4. Drive Shack Inc. (DS): $5.94

Director Wesley R. Edens acquired 482,697 shares of this operator of golf related properties, paying $6.00 per share for a total amount of $2.89 million. Mr. Edens increased his stake by 21.41% to 2,737,094 shares with this purchase.

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

5. Entercom Communications Corp. (ETM): $12

Shares of this radio broadcasting company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Chairman Emeritus Joseph M. Field acquired 180,282 shares, paying $11.72 per share for a total amount of $2.11 million. Mr. Field increased his stake by 5.11% to 3,709,459 shares with this purchase.
• President and CEO David J. Field acquired 25,000 shares, paying $11.60 per share for a total amount of $290,030. Mr. Field increased his stake by 1.39% to 1,823,072 shares with this purchase.

Entercom Communications recently merged with the radio division of CBS. Sometimes these kinds of mergers can have a transformative impact on a small company as we saw with the merger of Interval Leisure Group with the Vistana division of Starwood Hotels.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT): $96.62

Director Robson S. Walton sold 5,992,259 shares of Wal-Mart for $97.16, generating $582.22 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by a trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. here.

2. Paylocity Holding Corporation (PCTY): $48.22

Director Steven I. Sarowitz sold 1,296,142 shares of this payroll and HCM software company for $46.14, generating $59.8 million from the sale. 559,297 of these shares were sold indirectly by the Julian Grace Foundation.

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

3. Splunk Inc. (SPLK): $84.1

Shares of this application software company were sold by 3 insiders:

• Director Godfrey Sullivan sold 592,455 shares for $80.83, generating $47.89 million from the sale. 287,515 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• SVP & Chief Financial Officer David F. Conte sold 51,213 shares for $81.02, generating $4.15 million from the sale. 12,606 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• President, WW Field Operations Ledger Susan St. sold 14,578 shares for $79.58, generating $1.16 million from the sale.

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

4. Cerner Corporation (CERN): $70.57

Chairman and Interim CEO Clifford W. Illig sold 530,000 shares of this healthcare information technology supplier for $65.54, generating $34.73 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by a trust.

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

5. Facebook, Inc. (FB): $182.78

Shares of Facebook were sold by 4 insiders:

• Director Peter Thiel sold 160,805 shares for $178.90, generating $28.77 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Rivendell One LLC.
• Chief Product Officer Christopher K. Cox sold 16,000 shares for $179.63, generating $2.87 million from the sale.
• Chief Financial Officer David M. Wehner sold 15,470 shares for $179.05, generating $2.77 million from the sale.
• VP and General Counsel Colin Stretch sold 750 shares for $179.29, generating $134,465 from the sale.

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