Insider Weekends – CFO of H. B. Fuller Purchases Nearly Half A Million Dollars Worth of Stock

Welcome to edition 410 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying increased significantly last week with insiders purchasing $78.99 million of stock compared to $14.96 million in the week prior. Selling on the other hand decreased with insiders selling $651.93 million of stock last week compared to $692.06 million in the week prior. A large portion of the insider buying last week was related to transfer of stock between family members (AFSI), private placements (SMHI), IPOs (SURF and CLBK) and hence I would not read much into the spike in insider buying. We tend to exclude these kinds of insider purchases when highlighting notable insider purchases each week.

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 8.25. In other words, insiders sold more than 8 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 46.26.

Notable Insider Buys:

1. OPKO Health, Inc. (OPK): $3.16

Shares of this medical devices and drug development  company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• CEO & Chairman Phillip Frost M.D. acquired 297,172 shares, paying $3.03 per share for a total amount of $899,577. These shares were purchased indirectly by Frost Nevada Investments Trust.
• Director Robert Scott Fishel acquired 12,500 shares, paying $2.97 per share for a total amount of $37,125. These shares were purchased indirectly by ALSAR Ltd. Partnership, of which Dr. Fishel is the President and CEO.

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

2. H.B. Fuller Company (FUL): $50.49

Executive VP and CFO John J. Corkrean acquired 9,600 shares of this specialty chemicals company, paying $52.06 per share for a total amount of $499,742. Mr. Corkrean increased his stake by 190.21% to 14,647 shares with this purchase.

Mr. Corkrean has been with H. B. Fuller since May 2016 and this is his first purchase since he joined the company. There have been no other insider purchases over the last five years besides a small purchase by a VP last year. The company’s acquisition driven growth strategy was helped by its $1.575 billion purchase of Royal Adhesives & Sealants last September but has also left the company with a leveraged balance sheet.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for H.B. Fuller Company here.

3. Home Bancshares, Inc. (HOMB): $23.6

Chairman John W. Allison acquired 20,000 shares of this bank holding company, paying $21.32 per share for a total amount of $426,400. Mr. Allison increased his stake by 0.39% to 5,160,629 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) here.

4. MYOS RENS Technology Inc. (MYOS): $1.25

Shares of this nutritional supplements company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Chief Executive Officer Joseph Mannello acquired 221,774 shares, paying $1.24 per share for a total amount of $275,000. Mr. Mannello increased his stake by 78.61% to 503,892 shares with this purchase.
• Director Christopher Pechock acquired 80,645 shares, paying $1.24 per share for a total amount of $100,000. Mr. Pechock increased his stake by 71.79% to 192,980 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for MYOS RENS Technology Inc. here.

5. Veritone, Inc. (VERI): $19.57

CEO, Chairman of the Board Chad Steelberg acquired 20,000 shares of this software company, paying $18.40 per share for a total amount of $367,994. Mr. Steelberg increased his stake by 107.77% to 38,558 shares with this purchase.

This Artificial Intelligence focused software company garnered a lot of attention last year when the stock shoot up more than 700% following a bullish Barron’s article. As is often the case with some of these story stocks, it eventually gave back most of those gains that saw its stock soar from $7.87 to $65.91 in less than two months.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Facebook, Inc. (FB): $173.59

Shares of Facebook were sold by 2 insiders:

• COB and CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 759,000 shares for $164.35, generating $124.74 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through various entities.
• VP Bus. & Marketing Partnerships David B. Fischer sold 5,138 shares for $160.07, generating $822,440 from the sale.

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

2. The Charles Schwab Corporation (SCHW): $55.99

Shares of this investment brokerage and asset management company were sold by 4 insiders:

• Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 877,000 shares for $54.95, generating $48.19 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through various entities.
• Senior EVP and COO Joseph R. Martinetto sold 280,685 shares for $54.80, generating $15.38 from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• EVP – Investor Services Terri R. Kallsen sold 36,285 shares for $55.89, generating $2.03 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• President – CSIM Marie A. Chandoha sold 31,386 shares for $54.79, generating $1.72 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 The Charles Schwab Corporation here.

3. Andeavor (ANDV): $122.38

Shares of this petroleum products company were sold by 2 insiders:

• Director Paul L. Foster sold 152,809 shares for $121.10, generating $18.51 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Franklin Mountain Investments Limited Partnership.
• Director Jeff A. Stevens sold 121,925 shares for $118.94, generating $14.5 million from the sale.

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

4. Centene Corporation (CNC): $110.17

Shares of this health care plans company were sold by 4 insiders:

• Chairman & CEO Michael F. Neidorff sold 250,000 shares for $108.20, generating $27.05 million from the sale.
• Director Robert K. Ditmore sold 8,750 shares for $108.15, generating $946,313 from the sale.
• EVP & Chief Strategy Officer Jesse N. Hunter sold 5,000 shares for $108.34, generating $541,700 from the sale.
• EVP, Secr. & General Counsel Keith H. Williamson sold 1,000 shares for $110.00, generating $110,000 from the sale.

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

5. Twitter, Inc. (TWTR): $29

Director Evan Clark Williams sold 682,242 shares of Twitter for $30.88, generating $21.07 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by various trusts.

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

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

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.

The list of all insider purchases and sales by management people is only available to InsideArbitrage Premium and Plus members.

Disclaimer: I hold a long position in 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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