Insider Weekends: Cluster of Purchases by Insiders of U.S. Silica Holdings

Welcome to edition 433 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying increased significantly last week with insiders purchasing $124.14 million of stock compared to $47.04 million in the week prior. Selling also increased with insiders selling $1.22 billion of stock last week compared to $989.57 million 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 dropped to 9.86. In other words, insiders sold almost 10 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 21.04.

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. Spark Energy, Inc. (SPKE): $8.56

Director Keith W. Maxwell acquired 123,904 shares of this electricity and natural gas supplier, paying $8.20 per share for a total amount of $1.02 million. Mr. Maxwell increased his stake by 11.68% to 1,184,338 shares with this purchase.

Spark Energy showed up on my radar in late 2014 and early 2015 following a string of insider purchases during the depths of the energy recession. The stock had declined sharply from its IPO price of $18 ($9 split adjusted) and insiders started loading up. The stock more than doubled over the next two years while sporting a near double digit dividend yield. The stock lost more than 40% of its value over the last year and Mr. Maxwell started buying again on September 11, 2018.

Mr. Maxwell is the Chairman of Spark Energy and several other related entities, which creates the risk of related-party transactions. Energy service companies (ESCOs) like Spark have also come under criticism for their aggressive sales practices and potentially higher charges compared to standard utilities.

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

2. Odonate Therapeutics, Inc. (ODT): $17.12

Chief Executive Officer Kevin C. Tang acquired 40,000 shares of this biotech company, paying $19.16 per share for a total amount of $766,308. These shares were purchased indirectly by Tang Capital Partners, LP.

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

3. Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc. (HY): $60.6

Chairman Alfred M. Rankin acquired 11,707 shares of this lift truck manufacturing company, paying $62.17 per share for a total amount of $727,856. These shares were purchased indirectly through various trusts.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc. here.

4. U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. (SLCA): $19.42

Shares of this commercial silica producer were acquired by 5 insiders:

• Director William Jennings Kacal acquired 10,000 shares, paying $18.88 per share for a total amount of $188,800. Mr. Kacal increased his stake by 15.67% to 73,815 shares with this purchase.
• Director Michael J. Stice acquired 5,414 shares, paying $18.49 per share for a total amount of $100,105. Mr. Stice increased his stake by 19.95% to 32,556 shares with this purchase.
• President & CEO Bryan Adair Shinn acquired 2,200 shares, paying $18.45 per share for a total amount of $40,590. Mr. Shinn increased his stake by 1.77% to 126,243 shares with this purchase.
• EVP & Chief Commercial Officer Bradford B. Casper acquired 1,500 shares, paying $18.96 per share for a total amount of $28,440. Mr. Casper increased his stake by 8.80% to 18,552 shares with this purchase.
• EVP & Chief Financial Officer Donald A. Merril acquired 500 shares, paying $18.86 per share for a total amount of $9,430. Mr. Merril increased his stake by 1.86% to 27,377 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. here.

5. Landmark Infrastructure Partners LP (LMRK): $14.1

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

• Director Matthew P. Carbone acquired 14,000 shares, paying $14.10 per share for a total amount of $197,400.
• Chief Executive Officer Arthur P. Brazy acquired 8,100 shares, paying $13.79 per share for a total amount of $111,699. Mr. Brazy increased his stake by 6.19% to 138,952 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Landmark Infrastructure Partners LP here.

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Apple Inc. (AAPL): $224.29

Shares of Apple were sold by 3 insiders:

• Senior Vice President, CFO Luca Maestri sold 100,245 shares for $228.56, generating $22.91 million from the sale.
• Senior Vice President Angela J. Ahrendts sold 64,194 shares for $230.89, generating $14.82 million from the sale.
• COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 61,998 shares for $232.33, generating $14,403,787 from the sale.

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

2. Alico, Inc. (ALCO): $33.74

President & CEO Remy W. Trafelet sold 524,795 shares of this farm products company for $34.00, generating $17.84 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by 734 Investor, LLC.

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

3. CarGurus, Inc. (CARG): $49.42

Shares of this online auto shopping company were sold by 3 insiders:

• Director Anastasios Parafestas sold 360,000 shares for $53.36, generating $19.21 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by various trusts entities.
• CEO, President and Chairman Langley Steinert sold 234,812 shares for $52.30, generating $12.28 million from the sale. 11,740 of these shares were sold indirectly through a trust.
• Chief Technology Officer Oliver Ian Chrzan sold 6,000 shares for $55.41, generating $332,460 from the sale. 737 of 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 CarGurus, Inc. here.

4. NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA): $269.86

EVP, Worldwide Field Ops Ajay K. Puri sold 90,831 shares of this semiconductors company for $289.35, generating $26.28 million from the sale.

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

5. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (PANW): $215.71

Shares of this software application company were sold by 2 insiders:

• Director Mark D. McLaughlin sold 40,000 shares for $226.50, generating $9.06 million from the sale.
• EVP, Chief Technology Officer Nir Zuk sold 30,000 shares for $225.36, generating $6.76 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 Palo Alto Networks, 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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