Insider Weekends – Co-founder and Chairman of Platform Specialty Products Acquires $4.83 Million Worth of Stock

Welcome to edition 392 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying declined sharply last week with insiders purchasing $85.3 million of stock compared to $182.68 million in the week prior. Selling also decreased with insiders selling $1.37 billion of stock last week compared to $1.76 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 went up to 16.03. In other words, insiders sold more than 16 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavourably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 9.62.

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): $7.26

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

• Chief Executive Officer John F. Barry acquired 1,654,818 shares, paying $6.88 per share for a total amount of $11.39 million. Mr. Barry increased his stake by 5.72% to 30,603,116 shares with this purchase.
• Chief Operating Officer Grier M. Eliasek acquired 50,000 shares, paying $6.87 per share for a total amount of $343,600. Mr. Eliasek increased his stake by 4.42% to 1,182,196 shares with this purchase.

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

2. Platform Specialty Products Corporation (PAH): $10.11

Shares of this specialty chemicals company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Co-founder and Chairman Martin E. Franklin acquired 500,000 shares, paying $9.66 per share for a total amount of $4.83 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.
• President – Ag Solutions Diego Lopez Casanello acquired 4,000 shares, paying $9.91 per share for a total amount of $39,640. Mr. Casanello increased his stake by 36.36% to 15,000 shares with this purchase.

Platform Specialty was picked by Goldman Sachs for it sector-by-sector list of winners for 2018. While the company’s growth over the last three years has been impressive, the company continues to post losses, revenue growth has decelerated significantly over the last three quarters and the balance sheet is leveraged thanks to a number of acquisitions. On the positive side, due to high depreciation and low capex, free cash flow has been positive over the last three years and in three of the last four quarters.

Key investors of Platform Specialty Products include Paul Singer’s Elliott Management and Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management. For more about Elliott Management, check out the excellent profile in Fortune titled Inside Elliott Management: How Paul Singer’s Hedge Fund Always Wins.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Platform Specialty Products Corporation here.

3. Pershing Gold Corporation (PGLC): $2.35

Director Barry C. Honig acquired 1,226,181 shares of this gold mining company, paying $2.91 per share for a total amount of $3.56 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.

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

4. Biglari Holdings Inc. (BH): $418.73

Director Sardar Biglari, acquired 7,878 shares of this holding company, paying $413.83 per share for a total amount of $3.26 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by The Lion Fund.

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

5. Trilogy Metals Inc. (TMQ): $1.08

President & CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse acquired 1,159,096 shares of this exploration stage mining company, paying $0.83 per share for a total amount of $962,050. Mr. Van Nieuwenhuysen increased his stake by 105.41% to 2,258,673 shares with this purchase.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Intuit Inc. (INTU): $158.5

Chairman of Exec. Committee Scott D. Cook sold 335,727 shares of this accounting and tax software company for $159.80, generating $53.65 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by various trusts.

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

2. Colony NorthStar, Inc. (CLNS): $11.75

Shares of this mortgage REIT were sold by 2 insiders:

• Executive Vice Chairman David T. Hamamoto sold 2,225,909 shares for $12.09, generating $26.91 million from the sale. 304,786 of these shares were sold indirectly through a trust.
• Chief Accounting Officer Neale Redington sold 12,500 shares for $11.74, generating $146,750 from the sale.

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

3. Straight Path Communications Inc. (STRP): $181.54

Shares of this wireless spectrum and intellectual property company were sold by 2 insiders:

• CEO & President Davidi Jonas sold 131,337 shares for $181.41, generating $23.83 million from the sale. 78,591 of these shares were sold indirectly through a trust and 42,325 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Chief Technology Officer Zhouyue Pi sold 9,723 shares for $182.02, generating $1.77 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Straight Path Communications Inc. here.

4. ServiceNow, Inc. (NOW): $129.19

Director Frederic B. Luddy sold 170,000 shares of this software-as-a-service provider for $129.43, generating $22 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by a trust.

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

5. GMS Inc. (GMS): $37.12

Chairman of the Board Richard K. Mueller sold 500,000 shares of this interior construction products company for $38.05, generating $19.03 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for GMS 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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