Insider Weekends – Chairman Emeritus of Entercom Communications Continues Buying Stock

Welcome to edition 389 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying decreased significantly last week with insiders purchasing $49.16 million of stock compared to $169.97 million in the week prior. Selling also decreased with insiders selling $1.7 billion of stock last week compared to $3 billion 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 increased to 34.73. In other words, insiders sold almost 35 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavourably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 17.64.

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): $6.79

Shares of this business development company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Chief Executive Officer John F. Barry acquired 595,311 shares, paying $6.79 per share for a total amount of $4.04 million. Mr. Barry increased his stake by 2.27% to 26,861,490 shares with this purchase.
• Chief Executive Officer Grier M. Eliasek acquired 30,000 shares, paying $6.84 per share for a total amount of $205,110. Mr. Eliasek increased his stake by 2.99% to 1,032,196 shares with this purchase.

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

2. Mercadolibre, Inc. (MELI): $272.91

Director Nicolas Alejandro Aguzin acquired 10,000 shares of this online commerce platform, paying $274.47 per share for a total amount of $2.74 million.

This is the first insider purchase we have seen in MELI since we started tracking this data more than 7 years ago. Mr. Aguzin has served on MELI’s board since February 2017 and is currently the Chairman and CEO, Asia Pacific of J.P. Morgan.

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

3. Tallgrass Energy Partners, LP (TEP): $44.65

President and CEO David G. Dehaemers Jr. acquired 52,540 shares of this midstream energy assets company, paying $42.07 per share for a total amount of $2.21 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Tallgrass Energy Partners, LP here.

4. Entercom Communications Corp. (ETM): $11.8

Chairman Emeritus Joseph M. Field acquired 168,162 shares of this radio broadcasting company, paying $11.81 per share for a total amount of $1.99 million. Mr. Field increased his stake by 4.53% to 3,877,621 shares with this purchase.

The Chairman Emeritus purchased stock last week as well and we wrote the following after his 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.

5. Kennedy-Wilson Holdings, Inc. (KW): $19.25

Shares of this property management company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Director Stanley R. Zax acquired 50,000 shares, paying $19.18 per share for a total amount of $959,000. Mr. Zax increased his stake by 19.98% to 300,300 shares with this purchase.
• Chief Executive Officer William J. McMorrow acquired 50,000 shares, paying $19.18 per share for a total amount of $959,000. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT): $97.35

Shares of Wal-Mart were sold by 2 insiders:

• Director Robson S. Walton sold 3,545,043 shares for $97.05, generating $344.04 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by  a trust.
• Executive Vice President Jeffrey J. Gearhart sold 10,090 shares for $97.63, generating $985,122 from the sale.

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

2. The Gap, Inc. (GPS): $31.98

Shares of this apparel chain were sold by 4 insiders:

• 10% Owner John J. Fisher sold 1,500,000 shares for $31.51, generating $47.26 million from the sale.
• Director Katherine Tsang sold 20,000 shares for $29.48, generating $589,500 from the sale.
• President & CEO, GAP Jeff Kirwan sold 7,430 shares for $32.02, generating $237,886 from the sale.
• VP & Chief Accounting Officer Dara Bazzano sold 1,593 shares for $30.04, generating $47,859 from the sale.

Mr. Fisher is the son of the co-founders of The Gap.

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

3. Facebook, Inc. (FB): $175.1

Shares of Facebook were sold by 3 insiders:

• COB and CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 232,138 shares for $183.08, generating $42.49 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through various entities.
• VP Marketing & Bus. Part. David B. Fischer sold 16,621 shares for $183.51, generating $3.05 million from the sale.
• VP and General Counsel Colin Stretch sold 750 shares for $183.87, generating $137,899 from the sale.

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

4. Twitter, Inc. (TWTR): $20.71

Director Evan Clark Williams sold 1,982,985 shares of Twitter for $21.12, generating $41.89 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through various entities.

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

5. Novanta Inc. (NOVT): $46.6

Director Stephen W. Bershad sold 500,000 shares of this laser based solutions company for $52.55, generating $26.28 million from the sale.

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

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

Disclaimer: I hold long positions in Entercom Communications (ETM), The Gap (GPS) and Twitter (TWTR). 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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