Insider Weekends: Long Serving Chairman of Wireless Tower Company Purchases Shares

Welcome to edition 462 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying declined last week with insiders purchasing $43.89 million of stock compared to $46.23 million in the week prior. Selling also decreased with insiders selling $563.35 million of stock last week compared to $573.13 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 went up to 12.84. In other words, insiders sold almost 13 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 12.39.

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. Kinder Morgan, Inc. (KMI): $20.23

Executive Chairman Richard D. Kinder acquired 204,622 shares of this oil & gas pipelines company, paying $19.68 per share for a total amount of $4.03 million. Mr. Kinder increased his stake by 0.09% to 239,601,954 shares with this purchase.

After taking a short break during the earnings related quiet period, Mr. Kinder is back to his purchases of Kinder Morgan. The company reported first quarter earnings of 24 cents a share compared to earnings of 22 cents per share in Q1 2018. Revenue also increased year-over-year but was below expectations. Distributable cash flow (DCF) grow 7% year-over-year to 60 cents per share. The company announced a 25% increase in its dividend to $1.00 annualized this year and intends to increase it another 25% next year to $1.25/share. This puts the current yield at 4.94% and over 6% in 2020.

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

2. Crown Castle International Corp. (REIT) (CCI): $124.01

Director J. Landis Martin acquired 18,350 shares of this wireless tower REIT, paying $123.13 per share for a total amount of $2.26 million. Mr. Martin increased his stake by 17.93% to 120,717 shares with this purchase. These shares were purchased indirectly by various trusts.

Mr. Martin has been on Crown Castle’s board since its inception in 1995 through November 1998 and then again from November 1999 through present. He has served as its non-executive Chairman since 2002. A lawyer by training, he has been the CEO of several publicly-held industrial, chemical and metals companies.

Crown Castle first showed up on my radar several years ago due to very heavy insider selling. In recent years, we have started seeing a string of insider buying and for 2019 most insider transactions have been either insider purchases or option exercises that were not followed by sales. Like most wireless tower companies, Crown Castle also converted to a real estate investment trust (REIT) structure in 2014. The company sports a dividend yield of 3.63% and like most wireless tower companies, excellent operating margins. I wonder if Mr. Martin and other insiders are looking at the upcoming 5G rollout as the impetus for further double digit revenue growth.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Crown Castle International Corp. (REIT) here.

3. Veritex Holdings, Inc. (VBTX): $26.76

Shares of this regional bank were acquired by 3 insiders:

• Director Pat S. Bolin acquired 10,000 shares, paying $26.68 per share for a total amount of $266,784. These shares were purchased indirectly by Anasazi Capital, LP.
• Chief Financial Officer Terry Earley acquired 6,800 shares, paying $25.88 per share for a total amount of $176,013. These shares were purchased indirectly through an IRA.
• Director Gordon Huddleston acquired 1,000 shares, paying $25.82 per share for a total amount of $25,824. Mr. Huddleston increased his stake by 13.84% to 8,223 shares with this purchase.

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

4. Morgan Stanley (MS): $47.89

Head of Investment Management Daniel A. Simkowitz acquired 7,000 shares of Morgan Stanley, paying $47.57 per share for a total amount of $332,979. Mr. Simkowitz increased his stake by 3.76% to 193,089 shares with this purchase.

This is the first open market insider purchase of Morgan Stanley we have seen in 7 years.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Morgan Stanley here.

5. Yangtze River Port and Logistics Limited (YRIV): $0.94

CEO Xiangyao Liu acquired 282,825 shares of this real estate and infrastructure development company, paying $1.08 per share for a total amount of $305,646. These shares were purchased indirectly by Ricofeliz Investment LTD.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Yangtze River Port and Logistics Limited here.

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Guardant Health, Inc. (GH): $67.4

Shares of this precision oncology company were sold by 3 insiders:

• Chairman, President and COO Amirali Talasaz sold 350,000 shares for $65.97, generating $23.09 million from the sale. 67,082 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.
• Chief Legal Officer Michael J. Wiley sold 90,000 shares for $69.79, generating $6.28 million from the sale.
• Chief Executive Officer Helmy Eltoukhy sold 90,000 shares for $65.28, generating $5.88 million from the sale.

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

2. The Charles Schwab Corporation (SCHW): $44.9

Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 750,000 shares of this investment brokerage for $45.47, generating $34.1 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for The Charles Schwab Corporation here.

3. Accenture plc (ACN): $180.83

Shares of Accenture were sold by 11 insiders:

• Group Chief Executive-Fin Serv Richard Lumb sold 18,000 shares for $177.78, generating $3.2 million from the sale.
• Group Chief Exec-Growth Markets Gianfranco Casati sold 10,510 shares for $178.83, generating $1.88 million from the sale.
• Group Chief Exec-Products Sander van ‘t Noordende sold 8,000 shares for $177.78, generating $1.42 million from the sale.
• Chief Accounting Officer Richard P. Clark sold 6,266 shares for $177.78, generating $1.11 million from the sale.
• Chief Executive Officer David Rowland sold 4,869 shares for $179.72, generating $875,065 from the sale.
• Chief Leadership & HR Officer Ellyn Shook sold 4,688 shares for $179.65, generating $842,204 from the sale.
• Chief Operating Officer Johan Deblaere sold 3,000 shares for $179.70, generating $539,110 from the sale.
• Group Chief Exec-Resources Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 2,712 shares for $179.64, generating $487,172 from the sale.
• Group Chief Exec-North America Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,568 shares for $177.76, generating $456,497 from the sale.
• General Counsel and CCO Chad T. Jerdee sold 2,441 shares for $177.77, generating $433,943 from the sale.
• Group Chief Exec – Health & PS Daniel T. London sold 2,042 shares for $177.79, generating $363,042 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Accenture plc here.

4. salesforce.com, inc. (CRM): $165.96

Shares of this software company were sold by 8 insiders:

• Chairman of the Board & co-CEO Marc Benioff sold 20,000 shares for $160.30, generating $3.21 million from the sale.
• President and CFO Mark J. Hawkins sold 15,270 shares for $158.99, generating $2.43 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Co-Founder and CTO Parker Harris sold 6,331 shares for $160.34, generating $1.02 million from the sale.
• co-CEO Keith Block sold 2,500 shares for $162.00, generating $405,000 from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• President, Technology Srinivas Tallapragada sold 1,804 shares for $159.91, generating $288,476 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 647 shares for $159.91, generating $103,461 from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Pres. and Chief People Officer Cynthia G. Robbins sold 647 shares for $159.91, generating $103,461 from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Director John Victor Roos sold 113 shares for $162.10, generating $18,317 from the sale.

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

5. CarGurus, Inc. (CARG): $39.3

Director Anastasios Parafestas sold 176,000 shares of this online auto shopping provider for $37.36, generating $6.57 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by various trusts and entities.

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