Insider Weekends – Director of Mohawk Industries Purchases $13.74 Million of Stock

Welcome to edition 424 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying increased significantly last week with insiders purchasing $107.23 million of stock compared to $38.6 million in the week prior. Selling also increased with insiders selling $1.27 billion of stock last week compared to $912.22 million in the week prior. With earnings season in full swing and quiet period restrictions on insiders ending, we are likely to see more insider activity and hopefully more interesting insider purchases in the weeks ahead.

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 down to 11.85. In other words, insiders sold almost 12 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 23.6.

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. Mohawk Industries, Inc. (MHK): $186.61

Director Filip Balcaen acquired 75,000 shares of this home flooring products company, paying $183.16 per share for a total amount of $13.74 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Floorenter NV.

We wrote the following about the company after a $13.84 million purchase by Mr. Balcaen earlier this year,

After a good 5 year run, Mohawk’s stock peaked last December and is down more than 21% this year. The recent weakness is a little perplexing considering the company beat both top line and bottom line expectations for Q1 2018 when it reported earnings a couple of week ago. Beyond some near-term weakness related to start-up costs and patent expirations, the outlook for the rest of 2018 and next year was encouraging. Considering a strong real estate market and even stronger remodeling activity fueled by shows like Fixer Upper on HGTV, the company is worth exploring further.

High lumber prices and high oil prices combined with a strong dollar hurt results when the company reported second quarter earnings. While revenue was up 5.3% year-over-year to $2.58 billion, it missed estimates by $20 million. The bigger shock was earnings, which at $3.51/share missed estimates of $3.90/share by a wide margin. The stock plunged 17.51% to $179.31 the following day, one of its biggest one-day drops, pushing the stock to a new 52 week low.

With lumber prices peaking in May and oil prices declining in July, some of the headwinds the company faced in the second quarter may abate but other headwinds from a strong dollar and a tight labor market remain.

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

2. AT&T Inc. (T): $32.27

Shares of AT&T were acquired by 4 insiders:

• Director Glenn H. Hutchins acquired 64,329 shares, paying $31.04 per share for a total amount of $1.99 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by an LLC.
• Director Geoffrey Y. Yang acquired 32,350 shares, paying $30.48 per share for a total amount of $986,012. 20,867 of these shares were purchased indirectly through IRA and 11,483 shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.
• Director Richard W. Fisher acquired 7,400 shares, paying $31.04 per share for a total amount of $229,723. Mr. Fisher increased his stake by 284.62% to 10,000 shares with this purchase.
• Director Joyce M. Roche acquired 3,200 shares, paying $31.19 per share for a total amount of $99,795. Mr. Roche increased his stake by 36.95% to 11,860 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for AT&T Inc. here.

3. First Horizon National Corporation (FHN): $18.23

Shares of this regional bank were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Director Scott M. Niswonger acquired 100,000 shares, paying $18.20 per share for a total amount of $1.82 million. Mr. Niswonger increased his stake by 18.54% to 639,403 shares with this purchase.
• Chairman, President and CEO Bryan D. Jordan acquired 25,000 shares, paying $17.76 per share for a total amount of $443,898. Mr. Jordan increased his stake by 4.09% to 636,832 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for First Horizon National Corporation here.

4. Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (LOB): $29.7

Shares of this bank holding company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Chief Executive Officer James S. Mahan acquired 40,200 shares, paying $29.43 per share for a total amount of $1.18 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.
• Vice Chairman & EVP William L. Williams acquired 35,000 shares, paying $28.27 per share for a total amount of $989,450. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. here.

5. Federated Investors, Inc. (FII): $22.91

Director Michael J. Farrell acquired 65,000 shares of this asset management company, paying $24.12 per share for a total amount of $1.57 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through various trusts and entities.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Facebook, Inc. (FB): $177.78

Shares of Facebook were sold by 3 insiders:

• COB and CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 828,956 shares for $173.94, generating $144.19 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through various entities.
• Director Peter Thiel sold 2,256 shares for $175.95, generating $396,948 from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a fund.
• VP and General Counsel Colin Stretch sold 750 shares for $174.00, generating $130,500 from the sale.

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

2. Garmin Ltd. (GRMN): $64.91

Executive Chairman Min H. Kao sold 750,701 shares of this GPS manufacturer for $63.38, generating $47.58 million from the sale.

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

3. Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings, Inc. (OLLI): $68.85

President, CEO Mark L. Butler sold 300,000 shares of this discount store chain for $67.48, generating $20.24 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings, Inc. here.

4. World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE): $78.54

Shares of this entertainment company were sold by 2 insiders:

• Co-President Michelle D. Wilson sold 140,000 shares for $80.03, generating $11.2 million from the sale.
• Executive Producer Kevin Dunn sold 100,000 shares for $79.18, generating $7.92 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. here.

5. USANA Health Sciences, Inc. (USNA): $130.8

Shares of this nutritional and personal care products company were sold by 2 insiders:

• Director Myron W. Wentz sold 140,000 shares for $130.69, generating $18.29 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Gull Global Limited.
• Chief Communications Officer Daniel A. Macuga sold 503 shares for $132.40, generating $66,599 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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