Insider Weekends: Founder of Entercom Communications Starts Buying Again

  • March 10, 2019

Welcome to edition 455 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying decreased significantly last week with insiders purchasing $158.33 million of stock compared to $314.42 million in the week prior. Selling on the other hand increased with insiders selling $3.8 billion of stock last week compared to $2.09 billion in the week prior. A large part of this increase in selling was on account of selling by insiders of Americold Realty Trust (COLD) to the tune of $1.29 billion in a secondary offering.

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 24.02. In other words, insiders sold more than 24 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 6.65.

Insider Sector Heat Map March 8, 2019
Insider Sector Heat Map March 8, 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. The Medicines Company (MDCO): $25.17

Director Alexander J. Denner acquired 855,000 shares of this pharmaceutical company, paying $25.39 per share for a total amount of $21.71 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by by Sarissa Capital Management LP.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for The Medicines Company here.

P/E: N/AForward P/E: -11.24Industry P/E: 32.48
P/S: 301.87Price/Book: N/AEV/EBITDA: -13.74
Market Cap: $1.85BAvg. Daily Volume: 1,393,98152 Week Range: $16.69 – $41.57

2. Kinder Morgan, Inc. (KMI): $19.73

Executive Chairman Richard D. Kinder acquired 288,736 shares of this oil & gas pipelines company, paying $19.53 per share for a total amount of $5.64 million. Mr. Kinder increased his stake by 0.12% to 238,200,393 shares with this purchase.

This is the sixth week in a row Kinder Morgan made our list of notable insider purchases. We wrote the following about his purchases a month ago when the stock had appreciated to $18 per share.

We reported on $3.87 million of purchases by Mr. Kinder in the week prior and he more than tripled his buying last week. With the stock rebounding strongly off the Christmas Eve lows and trading close to a 52 week high, it is interesting to see Mr. Kinder continue to purchase shares.

Kinder Morgan was one of the first companies in the energy industry to favor the Master Limited Partnership (MLP) structure that allowed companies to pay no corporate taxes and pass all its profits to investors as distributions. More than four years ago, it was also one of the first to abandon the structure by merging its four pipeline companies into a single one and adopting a traditional C corporate structure. With changes in the tax structure in 2018 pushing the corporate tax rate well below the top individual tax rate, the MLP structure was no longer as tax efficient as it once was and we have seen a number of MLP companies converting to C corporations in 2018.

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

P/E: 29.67Forward P/E: 18.1Industry P/E: 566.58
P/S: 3.16Price/Book: 1.33EV/EBITDA: 12.84
Market Cap: $44.66BAvg. Daily Volume: 16,470,46752 Week Range: $14.62 – $20.01

3. Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (KDP): $26.4

Shares of this beverage company were acquired by 3 insiders:

  • Director Peter Harf acquired 156,800 shares, paying $25.44 per share for a total amount of $3.99 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by HFS S.a.r.l
  • Director Olivier Goudet acquired 20,000 shares, paying $25.43 per share for a total amount of $508,696.
  • Senior VP & Controller Angela A. Stephens acquired 11,535 shares, paying $25.69 per share for a total amount of $296,383. Ms. Stephens increased his stake by 36.11% to 43,482 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. here.

P/E: 49.81Forward P/E: 18.86Industry P/E: 29.28
P/S: 4.99Price/Book: 1.65EV/EBITDA: 24.5
Market Cap: $37.12BAvg. Daily Volume: 2,886,59852 Week Range: $20.46 – $124.36

4. Entercom Communications Corp. (ETM): $5.8

Chairman Emeritus Joseph M. Field acquired 400,000 shares of this radio broadcasting company, paying $6.17 per share for a total amount of $2.47 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Mr. Field’s spouse and by a trust.

After buying Entercom stock several times last year, Mr. Field is increasing his stake again with a series of purchases in March even as the stock continues to weaken. We wrote the following about his purchases last summer.

Mr. Field’s enthusiasm for Entercom has not dampened despite a large decline in the stock after first quarter 2018 results missed expectations on both the top line and the bottom line. This was the first quarter of operations after Entercom Communications merged with CBS Radio. For the month of May, Mr. Field picked up 943,062 shares for $7.6 million. You can check out a full write-up of Entercom by Vetle Forsland here or a quick summary on page 14 of Focused Compounding’s letter here.

The big increase in revenue from CBS Radio has not translated to a large increase on the bottom line due to a drop in revenue on a per station basis and increased interest expense from a higher debt load. When post-merger restructuring in assets and goodwill write downs are done, we will probably see how things start to shape up for Entercom in 2019 and if Mr. Field’s enthusiasm for the stock is justified.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Entercom Communications Corp. here.

P/E: N/AForward P/E: 4.92Industry P/E: 14.84
P/S: 0.55Price/Book: 0.61EV/EBITDA: 8.82
Market Cap: $801.74MAvg. Daily Volume: 1,315,09152 Week Range: $5.27 – $10.95

5. Arconic Inc. (ARNC): $18.49

Chairman and CEO John C. Plant acquired 105,000 shares of this lightweight metals company, paying $18.51 per share for a total amount of $1.94 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.

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

P/E: 14.29Forward P/E: 9.73Industry P/E: 26.77
P/S: 0.64Price/Book: 1.62EV/EBITDA: 7.28
Market Cap: $8.97BAvg. Daily Volume: 6,114,35052 Week Range: $15.63 – $25.24

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Walmart Inc. (WMT): $97.59

Director Robson S. Walton sold 664,328 shares of Walmart for $97.91, generating $65.04 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.

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

P/E: 43.18Forward P/E: 19.44Industry P/E: 40.71
P/S: 0.55Price/Book: 3.9EV/EBITDA: 10.42
Market Cap: $283.52BAvg. Daily Volume: 8,460,92952 Week Range: $81.78 – $106.21

2. Pfizer Inc. (PFE): $40.89

Shares of Pfizer were sold by 4 insiders:

  • Executive Chairman Ian C. Read sold 580,866 shares for $43.18, generating $25.08 million from the sale.
  • President R&D Mikael Dolsten sold 149,553 shares for $43.55, generating $6.51 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
  • Executive Vice President Sally Susman sold 72,723 shares for $43.15, generating $3.14 million from the sale.
  • Executive Vice President Dawn Rogers sold 15,002 shares for $42.98, generating $644,798 from the sale.

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

P/E: 21.91Forward P/E: 13.28Industry P/E: 32.48
P/S: 4.23Price/Book: 3.69EV/EBITDA: 11.36
Market Cap: $227.01BAvg. Daily Volume: 26,312,92652 Week Range: $34.32 – $46.47

3. Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET): $274.55

Shares of this cloud networking company were sold by 4 insiders:

  • Chief Customer Officer Anshul Sadana sold 42,084 shares for $286.27, generating $12.05 million from the sale. 40,571 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
  • President and CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 33,498 shares for $286.65, generating $9.6 million from the sale.
  • Senior Vice President, CFO Ita M. Brennan sold 5,000 shares for $286.35, generating $1.43 million from the sale.
  • SVP and General Counsel Marc Taxay sold 2,000 shares for $285.81, generating $571,615 from the sale. 1,085 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 Arista Networks, Inc. here.

P/E: 67.69Forward P/E: 25.4Industry P/E: 16.4
P/S: 9.66Price/Book: 9.69EV/EBITDA: 26.92
Market Cap: $20.79BAvg. Daily Volume: 868,43652 Week Range: $187.08 – $313.367

4. Ingersoll-Rand Plc (IR): $104.3

Shares of this diversified industrials company were sold by 3 insiders:

  • Chairman and CEO Michael W. Lamach sold 105,064 shares for $105.74, generating $11.11 million from the sale.
  • Sr VP and CFO Susan K. Carter sold 70,037 shares for $105.67, generating $7.4 million from the sale.
  • Senior Vice President Marcia J. Avedon sold 23,473 shares for $105.83, generating $2.48 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Ingersoll-Rand Plc here.

P/E: 19.52Forward P/E: 14.96Industry P/E: 24.94
P/S: 1.61Price/Book: 3.59EV/EBITDA: 12.26
Market Cap: $25.26BAvg. Daily Volume: 1,592,57552 Week Range: $79.63 – $107.64

5. CarGurus, Inc. (CARG): $39.24

Shares of this online auto shopping provider were sold by 2 insiders:

  • CEO and Chairman Langley Steinert sold 234,812 shares for $39.68, generating $9.32 million from the sale. 11,740 of these shares were sold indirectly through  a trust.
  • Director Anastasios Parafestas sold 223,775 shares for $41.63, generating $9.32 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through various trusts.

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

P/E: 68.84Forward P/E: 71.35Industry P/E: 34.02
P/S: 9.57Price/Book: 22.32EV/EBITDA: 148.47
Market Cap: $4.35BAvg. Daily Volume: 686,90152 Week Range: $29.185 – $57.25

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

Disclaimer: I hold a long position in Entercom Communications (ETM). 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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