Insider Weekends: EVP James DeFranco Buys Shares of DISH Network

Welcome to edition 435 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying more than doubled last week with insiders purchasing $45.76 million of stock compared to $22.32 million in the week prior. Selling on the other hand decreased significantly with insiders selling $257.89 million of stock last week compared to $411.84 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 declined to 5.64. In other words, insiders sold almost 6 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 18.45.

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. Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc. (HY): $59.71

Chairman Alfred M. Rankin acquired 15,863 shares of this lift truck manufacturing company, paying $61.80 per share for a total amount of $980,284. These shares were purchased indirectly through various trusts and other entities.

This is the third week in a row we have reported on purchases of Hyster-Yale Materials. These purchases were done under an established 10b5-1 trading plan, which indicates we are likely to see more of these trades going forward.

The stock appears to be reasonably valued and I like the double digit top line growth but low single digit operating margins are a disappointment. Management’s long-term target of 7% operating margins is also not very exciting. Their fuel cell business is in its early stages and generating losses. I am at a loss for why the insiders are buying Hyster-Yale.

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

2. BlackRock, Inc. (BLK): $401.65

Director William E. Ford acquired 2,000 shares of this asset management company, paying $409.59 per share for a total amount of $819,176. Mr. Ford increased his stake by 36.59% to 7,466 shares with this purchase.

Mr. Ford was elected to BlackRock’s board earlier this year and this is his fourth purchase this year. New directors often tend to purchase shares of the company and hence I would not read too much into this purchase.

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

3. DISH Network Corporation (DISH): $34.91

Executive Vice President James DeFranco acquired 15,000 shares of DISH Network, paying $32.99 per share for a total amount of $494,850. Mr. Defranco increased his stake by 1.24% to 1,228,529 shares with this purchase.

Mr. DeFranco’s purchases of DISH are interesting because he has purchased shares in four of the last five months. While the purchases have not been large, he is buying under an established 10b5-1 trading plan and is likely to continue buying. His prior transactions were options related sales in 2014 and 2015 when the stock was trading in the mid to high $70s.

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

4. Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc. (TCBI): $66.83

Shares of this regional bank were acquired by 2 insiders:

• President and CEO Keith C. Cargill acquired 3,000 shares, paying $67.59 per share for a total amount of $202,770. Mr. Cargill increased his stake by 3.41% to 90,880 shares with this purchase.
• Texas President CLO-TCB Vince A. Ackerson acquired 2,000 shares, paying $67.00 per share for a total amount of $134,000. Mr. Ackerson increased his stake by 7.55% to 28,485 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc. here.

5. Bassett Furniture Industries, Incorporated (BSET): $19.69

Director John R. Belk acquired 15,000 shares of this home furnishings company, paying $20.99 per share for a total amount of $314,850. Mr. Belk increased his stake by 117.16% to 27,803 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Bassett Furniture Industries, Incorporated here.

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Garmin Ltd. (GRMN): $61.97

Executive Chairman Min H. Kao sold 450,000 shares of this GPS manufacturer for $62.80, generating $28.26 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Mr. Kao’s children.

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

2. CarGurus, Inc. (CARG): $40.92

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

• Director Anastasios Parafestas sold 257,558 shares for $42.30, generating $10.89 million from the sale. 14,633 of these shares were sold indirectly by Argonaut 22 LLC and 2,925 of these shares were sold indirectly by a trust.
• Chief Technology Officer Oliver Ian Chrzan sold 30,000 shares for $41.87, generating $1.26 million from the sale.
• Sr. VP, Consumer Marketing Sarah Amory Welch sold 7,500 shares for $42.37, generating $317,760 from the sale.

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

3. Roku, Inc. (ROKU): $54.09

CEO and Chairman BOD Anthony J. Wood sold 125,000 shares of Roku for $62.21, generating $7.78 million from the sale.

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

4. Vonage Holdings Corp. (VG): $13.45

Director Jeffrey A. Citron sold 250,000 shares of this communication services provider for $13.64, generating $3.41 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by various trusts.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Vonage Holdings Corp. here.

5. salesforce.com, inc. (CRM): $140.49

Shares of this software application company were sold by 5 insiders:

• Chairman of the Board & co-CEO Marc Benioff sold 20,000 shares for $144.95, generating $2.89 million from the sale.
• Co-Founder and CTO Parker Harris sold 5,711 shares for $146.14, generating $834,607 from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Pres., Legal & General Counsel Amy E. Weaver sold 5,325 shares for $146.49, generating $780,059 from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Co-CEO Keith Block sold 4,320 shares for $145.70, generating $629,424 from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Director Craig Conway sold 200 shares for $146.49, generating $29,298 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for salesforce.com, 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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