Insider Weekends – Director of Mohawk Industries Continues Buying

Welcome to edition 425 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying decreased last week with insiders purchasing $98 million of stock compared to $107.23 million in the week prior. Selling increased with insiders selling $1.51 billion of stock last week compared to $1.27 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 15.45. In other words, insiders sold almost 16 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 11.85.

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. Platform Specialty Products Corporation (PAH): $12.25

Shares of this specialty chemicals company were acquired by 3 insiders:

• Director Martin E. Franklin acquired 375,000 shares, paying $12.25 per share for a total amount of $4.59 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.
• Director Ian G. Ashken acquired 50,000 shares, paying $12.25 per share for a total amount of $612,500. These shares were purchased indirectly by IGHA Holdings.
• Chief Human Resources Officer John David Tolbert acquired 16,000 shares, paying $12.13 per share for a total amount of $194,080. Mr. Tolbert increased his stake by 800.00% to 18,000 shares with this purchase.

After years of losses, the company finally posted positive earnings the last two quarters. With a highly leveraged balance sheet, most of the operating income is lost to paying interest and net interest margins are tiny. Insider enthusiasm for the company is perplexing to say the least.

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

2. Mohawk Industries, Inc. (MHK): $182.32

Director Filip Balcaen acquired 25,000 shares of this home flooring products company, paying $184.80 per share for a total amount of $4.62 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Floorenter NV.

This is the second week in a row that we have reported on purchases by Mr. Balcaen, although his purchase this week is significantly below his $13.74 million purchase last week.

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

3. Graham Holdings Company (GHC): $557.9

Formerly known as The Washington Post Company, shares of this diversified education and media company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• President and CEO Timothy J. O’Shaughnessy acquired 4,650 shares, paying $551.35 per share for a total amount of $1.98 million. Mr. O’Shaughnessy increased his stake by 50.76% to 11,742 shares with this purchase. These shares were purchased indirectly through various trusts.
• Director Donald Graham acquired 1,800 shares, paying $550.21 per share for a total amount of $990,372. These shares were purchased indirectly through various trusts.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Graham Holdings Company here.

4. MACOM Technology Solutions Holdings, Inc. (MTSI): $23.3

Chairman John L. Ocampo acquired 97,800 shares of this semiconductor company, paying $20.95 per share for a total amount of $2.05 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for MACOM Technology Solutions Holdings, Inc. here.

5. DowDuPont Inc. (DWDP): $67.74

Chief Executive Officer Edward D. Breen acquired 29,580 shares of this chemicals company, paying $67.61 per share for a total amount of $1.99 million. Mr. Breen increased his stake by 8.84% to 364,232 shares with this purchase.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Facebook, Inc. (FB): $180.26

COB and CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,084,000 shares of Facebook for $181.27, generating $196.49 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through various entities.

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

2. Garmin Ltd. (GRMN): $63.83

Shares of this GPS manufacturer were sold by 3 insiders:

• Executive Chairman Min H. Kao sold 915,408 shares for $64.71, generating $59.23 million from the sale.
• EVP, Man. Director – Aviation Philip Straub sold 5,846 shares for $65.09, generating $380,520 from the sale.
• Managing Director, EMEA Sean Biddlecombe sold 1,308 shares for $64.89, generating $84,871 from the sale.

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

3. Medpace Holdings, Inc. (MEDP): $58.7

Shares of this outsourced clinical development services provider were sold by 2 insiders:

• President & CEO August J. Troendle sold 869,565 shares for $58.91, generating $51.23 million from the sale.
• CFO & COO, Lab Operations Jesse J. Geiger sold 7,407 shares for $60.15, generating $445,531 from the sale.

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

4. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): $109

Shares of Microsoft were sold by 3 insiders:

• Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella sold 328,000 shares for $109.44, generating $35.89 million from the sale.
• Executive Vice President Jean Philippe Courtois sold 57,880 shares for $109.50, generating $6.34 million from the sale.
• EVP, Business Development Margaret L. Johnson sold 47,000 shares for $107.67, generating $5.06 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.

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

5. USANA Health Sciences, Inc. (USNA): $129.75

Director Myron W. Wentz sold 240,000 shares of this nutritional and personal care products company for $131.14, generating $31.47 million from the sale.

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

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

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

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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