Welcome to edition 460 of Insider Weekends. With first quarter 2019 earnings just around the corner, both insider buying and selling remain muted and will most likely pick up over the next two to three weeks. Insider buying increased significantly last week with insiders purchasing $88.58 million of stock compared to $27.16 million in the week prior. Selling on the other hand declined with insiders selling $482.22 million of stock last week compared to $747.39 million in the week prior.
During this slow week for insider purchases, I figured I would share a picture of the Buddhist temple Byodo-In that I took last week while visiting the Hawaiian island of Oahu.
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 5.44. In other words, insiders sold more than 5 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 27.52.
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): $19.82
Executive Chairman Richard D. Kinder acquired 175,200 shares of this oil & gas pipelines company, paying $19.74 per share for a total amount of $3.46 million. Mr. Kinder increased his stake by 0.07% to 238,894,693 shares with this purchase.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Kinder Morgan, Inc. here.
P/E: 29.8 | Forward P/E: 18.18 | Industry P/E: 45.06 |
P/S: 3.17 | Price/Book: 1.33 | EV/EBITDA: 12.87 |
Market Cap: $44.86B | Avg. Daily Volume: 15,211,111 | 52 Week Range: $14.62 – $20.44 |
2. Landec Corporation (LNDC): $10.41
Director Nelson Obus acquired 60,000 shares of this farm products and packaging company, paying $10.33 per share for a total amount of $619,900. These shares were purchased indirectly by Wynnefield Capital, Inc.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Landec Corporation here.
P/E: 44.11 | Forward P/E: 30.62 | Industry P/E: 22.27 |
P/S: 0.56 | Price/Book: 1.12 | EV/EBITDA: 16.19 |
Market Cap: $303.79M | Avg. Daily Volume: 123,058 | 52 Week Range: $9.99 – $15.6 |
3. Abeona Therapeutics Inc. (ABEO): $7.69
Shares of this biotech company were acquired by 2 insiders:
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Abeona Therapeutics Inc. here.
P/E: N/A | Forward P/E: -4.99 | Industry P/E: 69.3 |
P/S: 122.99 | Price/Book: 2.75 | EV/EBITDA: -5.04 |
Market Cap: $368.73M | Avg. Daily Volume: 378,176 | 52 Week Range: $6.26 – $22 |
4. Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. (LTS): $3.46
Shares of this investment brokerage were acquired by 5 insiders:
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. here.
P/E: N/A | Forward P/E: 23.07 | Industry P/E: 56.64 |
P/S: 0.37 | Price/Book: 2 | EV/EBITDA: N/A |
Market Cap: $514.5M | Avg. Daily Volume: 191,368 | 52 Week Range: $2.15 – $3.84 |
5. Galectin Therapeutics, Inc. (GALT): $4.65
Shares of this drug manufacturer were acquired by 3 insiders:
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Galectin Therapeutics, Inc. here.
P/E: N/A | Forward P/E: -8.45 | Industry P/E: 104.99 |
P/S: N/A | Price/Book: N/A | EV/EBITDA: -15.62 |
Market Cap: $211.81M | Avg. Daily Volume: 359,098 | 52 Week Range: $3.1 – $9.49 |
You can view the full list of purchases from this Insider Buying page.
Notable Insider Sales:
1. Facebook, Inc. (FB): $179.1
Shares of Facebook were sold by 2 insiders:
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Facebook, Inc. here.
P/E: 23.66 | Forward P/E: 20.21 | Industry P/E: 38.04 |
P/S: 9.15 | Price/Book: 6.08 | EV/EBITDA: 16.1 |
Market Cap: $511.15B | Avg. Daily Volume: 18,871,750 | 52 Week Range: $123.02 – $218.62 |
2. Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (TTWO): $94.11
Chairman, CEO Strauss Zelnick sold 144,614 shares of this videogame company for $94.05, generating $13.6 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Zelnick Media Corporation.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. here.
P/E: 29.52 | Forward P/E: 18.94 | Industry P/E: 25.45 |
P/S: 3.86 | Price/Book: 4.91 | EV/EBITDA: 28.54 |
Market Cap: $9.95B | Avg. Daily Volume: 2,970,269 | 52 Week Range: $84.41 – $139.91 |
3. Symantec Corporation (SYMC): $23.96
Shares of this software application company were sold by 2 insiders:
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Symantec Corporation here.
P/E: N/A | Forward P/E: 13.46 | Industry P/E: 32.6 |
P/S: 3.22 | Price/Book: 2.59 | EV/EBITDA: 17.85 |
Market Cap: $15.32B | Avg. Daily Volume: 5,204,112 | 52 Week Range: $17.43 – $29.2 |
4. Shake Shack Inc. (SHAK): $60.66
Director Jonathan D. Sokoloff sold 250,000 shares of this restaurant chain for $58.36, generating $14.59 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Green Equity Investors VI, L.P.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Shake Shack Inc. here.
P/E: 116.65 | Forward P/E: 83.1 | Industry P/E: 81.05 |
P/S: 4.91 | Price/Book: 7.92 | EV/EBITDA: 27.63 |
Market Cap: $2.26B | Avg. Daily Volume: 657,919 | 52 Week Range: $40.67 – $70.12 |
5. CarGurus, Inc. (CARG): $40.99
Shares of this online auto shopping provider were sold by 3 insiders:
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for CarGurus, Inc. here.
P/E: 71.91 | Forward P/E: 73.2 | Industry P/E: 38.04 |
P/S: 10.02 | Price/Book: 23.32 | EV/EBITDA: 155.34 |
Market Cap: $4.55B | Avg. Daily Volume: 702,090 | 52 Week Range: $29.19 – $57.25 |
You can view the full list of sales from this Insider Sales page.
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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