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Insider Weekends: Founder of DISH Network Continues His Insider Buying Spree

  • January 20, 2019

Welcome to edition 448 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying continued to decline last week with insiders purchasing $7.58 million million of stock compared to $15.32 million in the week prior. Selling also declined with insiders selling $464.73 million of stock last week compared to $740.97 million in the week prior. With earnings season in full swing now, we are likely to see an increase in the volume of insider purchases over the next four to six weeks as companies exit their blackout periods.

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 61.31. In other words, insiders sold more than 61 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 48.37. 

Insider Sector Heat Map January 18, 2019
Insider Sector Heat Map January 18, 2019 (click to enlarge)

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. DISH Network Corporation (DISH): $29.8

Executive Vice President James DeFranco acquired 25,000 shares of DISH Network, paying $28.01 per share for a total amount of $700,350. Mr. DeFranco increased his stake by 1.75% to 1,453,529 shares with this purchase.

We also highlighted an insider purchase by Mr. DeFranco last week when we wrote,

He has increased the size of his purchases this year after a drop in the stock over the last few weeks. Mr. DeFranco is a co-founder of DISH Network and probably sees value in the company’s wireless spectrum assets. The core business continues to decline in this era of cord cutting and the balance sheet is leveraged.

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

P/E: 5.98Forward P/E: 12.16Industry P/E: 16.03
P/S: 1.01Price/Book: 1.69EV/EBITDA: 9.57
Market Cap: $13.94BAvg. Daily Volume: 3,421,52652 Week Range: $23.22 – $48.21

2. Valvoline Inc. (VVV): $21.9

Chief Executive Officer Samuel J. Mitchell acquired 25,000 shares of this auto lubricants and parts company, paying $20.78 per share for a total amount of $519,500. Mr. Mitchell increased his stake by 17.59% to 167,133 shares with this purchase.

Valvoline is trading very close to the $22 the IPO was priced at in September 2016, when the company was spun out of chemicals company Ashland Inc. (ASH). Mr. Mitchell purchased 25,000 shares in the IPO and since then has exercised options multiple times without selling them, except for a portion to satisfy tax liabilities. This is his first open market purchase since the IPO and it was done under a 10b5-1 trading plan. Considering the plan was created in November 2018, we are likely to see additional purchases by him in the future.

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

P/E: 26.07Forward P/E: 14.22Industry P/E: 17.6
P/S: 1.8Price/Book: N/AEV/EBITDA: 11.84
Market Cap: $4.12BAvg. Daily Volume: 1,457,75252 Week Range: $17.49 – $25.14

3. Landec Corporation (LNDC): $11.57

Shares of this farm products company were acquired by 2 insiders:

  • Director Nelson Obus acquired 20,000 shares, paying $11.33 per share for a total amount of $226,600. These shares were purchased indirectly by Wynnefield Capital, Inc.
  • Director Andrew Kenneth William Powell acquired 525 shares, paying $11.62 per share for a total amount of $6,100. Mr. Powell increased his stake by 110.53% to 1,000 shares with this purchase.

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

P/E: 14.78Forward P/E: 24.1Industry P/E: 22.43
P/S: 0.63Price/Book: 1.27EV/EBITDA: 15.26
Market Cap: $337.5MAvg. Daily Volume: 72,00852 Week Range: $10.17 – $15.6

4. OPKO Health, Inc. (OPK): $3.8

CEO & Chairman Phillip Frost M.D. acquired 50,000 shares of this medical devices and drug development  company, paying $3.74 per share for a total amount of $186,780. These shares were purchased indirectly by Frost Nevada Investments Trust.

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

P/E: N/AForward P/E: -15.83Industry P/E: 30.48
P/S: 2.06Price/Book: 1.19EV/EBITDA: -16.99
Market Cap: $2.13BAvg. Daily Volume: 4,804,28452 Week Range: $2.34 – $6.4

5. Precision Therapeutics Inc. (AIPT): $0.9851

Chief Executive Officer Carl I. Schwartz acquired 78,125 shares of this healthcare products manufacturer, paying $0.64 per share for a total amount of $50,000. Mr. Schwartz increased his stake by 118.06% to 144,298 shares with this purchase.

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

P/E: N/AForward P/E: N/AIndustry P/E: 52.98
P/S: 9.69Price/Book: 4.36EV/EBITDA: -1.67
Market Cap: $12.8MAvg. Daily Volume: 69,41152 Week Range: $0.6 – $1.58

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Twitter, Inc. (TWTR): $33.27

Director Evan Clark Williams sold 682,242 shares of Twitter for $32.88, generating $22.43 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.

P/E: 24.54Forward P/E: 37.38Industry P/E: 41.42
P/S: 8.81Price/Book: 3.91EV/EBITDA: 32.14
Market Cap: $25.24BAvg. Daily Volume: 23,582,75552 Week Range: $22.04 – $47.79

2. Alphabet Inc. (GOOG): $1098.26

Shares of Alphabet were sold by 3 insiders:

  • CEO, Google LLC Sundar Pichai sold 10,000 shares for $1086.33, generating $10.86 million from the sale.
  • SVP, Corporate Development David C. Drummond sold 5,688 shares for $1050.13, generating $5.97 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
  • Director Ann Mather sold 38 shares for $1100.00, generating $41,800 from the sale.

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

P/E: 41.22Forward P/E: 23.27Industry P/E: 41.42
P/S: 5.9Price/Book: 4.5EV/EBITDA: 16.09
Market Cap: $766.06BAvg. Daily Volume: 1,912,29552 Week Range: $970.11 – $1273.89

3. Inspire Medical Systems, Inc. (INSP): $55.4

Shares of this medical devices company were sold by 3 insiders:

  • Director Joyce Erony sold 300,704 shares for $49.31, generating $14.83 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Amzak Health.
  • CEO and President Timothy P. Herbert sold 15,000 shares for $48.70, generating $730,430 from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.
  • Senior VP, Sales and Marketing Randy Ban sold 10,000 shares for $48.59, generating $485,939 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 Inspire Medical Systems, Inc. here.

P/E: N/AForward P/E: -43.62Industry P/E: 32.17
P/S: 29.31Price/Book: 12.05EV/EBITDA: -48.94
Market Cap: $1.29BAvg. Daily Volume: 287,61752 Week Range: $22.5 – $57.874

4. VMware, Inc. (VMW): $147.66

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

  • EVP Worldwide Sales & Services Maurizio Carli sold 36,848 shares for $146.79, generating $5.41 million from the sale.
  • Chief Executive Officer Patrick P. Gelsinger sold 30,095 shares for $146.78, generating $4.42 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 VMware, Inc. here.

P/E: 42.31Forward P/E: 22.2Industry P/E: 20.66
P/S: 6.98Price/Book: 5.55EV/EBITDA: 21.55
Market Cap: $60.52BAvg. Daily Volume: 1,516,41952 Week Range: $108.46 – $169.25

5. RealPage, Inc. (RP): $54.14

Chairman President & CEO Stephen T. Winn sold 150,000 shares of this software application company for $53.29, generating $7.99 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Seren Capital Ltd.

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

P/E: 676.75Forward P/E: 30.76Industry P/E: 39.5
P/S: 5.9Price/Book: 4.59EV/EBITDA: 36.67
Market Cap: $4.9BAvg. Daily Volume: 901,16952 Week Range: $42.9 – $66.25

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: 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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