Insider Weekends: Dr. Springer Significantly Increases His Purchases

Welcome to edition 539 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying increased last week with insiders purchasing $53.28 million of stock compared to $51.69 million in the week prior. Selling on the other hand decreased significantly with insiders selling $884.13 million of stock last week compared to $2.14 billion 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 dropped to 16.59. In other words, insiders sold almost 17 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 41.34.

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. Selecta Biosciences, Inc. (SELB): $2.83

Director Timothy A. Springer acquired 5,532,388 shares of this biotech company, paying $2.51 per share for a total amount of $13.89 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by TAS Partners LLC.

This is the second week in a row Dr. Springer’s insider purchases of Selecta Biosciences made our list. Compared to his $552,465 purchase two weeks ago, he significantly bumped up his buying last week and purchased shares at much higher prices.  We wrote the following about his purchase last week,

Dr. Springer is a Professor at Harvard University and has served as a scientific advisor to Selecta Biosciences since December 2008. He joined the board of directors in June 2016. With this latest purchase, he now owns 15% of common shares outstanding.

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

2. Del Taco Restaurants, Inc. (TACO): $8.125

Director Ari B. Levy acquired 67,400 shares of this restaurants chain, paying $7.49 per share for a total amount of $504,518. Mr. Levy increased his stake by 18.60% to 429,716 shares with this purchase.

Mr. Levy and his father Lawrence Levy have been active buyers of Del Taco stock this year. Mr. Levy’s biggest purchases this year were close to the March lows when the stock dipped below $3. Like the rest of the market, the stock has recovered substantially since those Spring lows and it is surprising to see Mr. Levy continue to buy at these levels.

The company had a difficult second quarter with sales down 14% year-over-year and Del Taco posted a small loss. Things reversed course in Q3 with revenue stabilizing with a small gain of 0.49% to $120.78 million and the company handily beating earnings estimates with GAAP earnings of 15 cents per share.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Del Taco Restaurants, Inc. here.

3. BioVie Inc. (BIVI): $9.06

Director Steve Gorlin acquired 20,100 shares of this biotech company, paying $9.87 per share for a total amount of $198,467. Mr. Gorlin increased his stake by 100.50% to 40,100 shares with this purchase. 5,100 of these shares were purchased indirectly by Mr. Gorlin’s spouse.

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

4. First American Financial Corporation (FAF): $48.41

Director Mark C. Oman acquired 4,000 shares of this insurance company, paying $47.78 per share for a total amount of $191,125. Mr. Oman increased his stake by 11.73% to 38,092 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for First American Financial Corporation here.

5. GreenPower Motor Company Inc. (GP): $9.84

CEO and Chairman Fraser Atkinson acquired 10,000 shares of this electric vehicles company, paying $13.78 per share for a total amount of $137,781. Mr. Atkinson increased his stake by 0.91% to 1,107,051 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for GreenPower Motor Company here.

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA): $543.61

EVP, Operations Debora Shoquist sold 52,026 shares of NVIDIA for $551.44, generating $28.69 million from the sale.

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

2. salesforce.com, inc. (CRM): $250.52

Shares of this software application company were sold by 4 insiders:

• Chairman of the Board & CEO Marc Benioff sold 75,000 shares for $255.75, generating $19.18 million from the sale.
• President/Chief People Officer Brent Hyder sold 16,727 shares for $252.25, generating $4,219,333 from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• President and CFO Mark J. Hawkins sold 8,801 shares for $254.20, generating $2,237,214 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 5,000 shares for $256.81, generating $1,284,057 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 salesforce.com, inc. here.

3. ON Semiconductor Corporation (ON): $26.16

CEO & President Keith D. Jackson sold 600,000 shares of this semiconductor company for $25.76, generating $15,455,580 from the sale.

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

4. ServiceNow, Inc. (NOW): $514.01

Director Frederic B. Luddy sold 28,600 shares of this software application company for $515.38, generating $14,739,732 from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.

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

5. Accenture plc (ACN): $229.7

Shares of Accenture were sold by 8 insiders:

• CEO-Growth Markets Gianfranco Casati sold 17,855 shares for $230.58, generating $4.12 million from the sale.
• Executive Chairman David Rowland sold 10,938 shares for $229.30, generating $2.51 million from the sale.
• Chief Executive Officer Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,228 shares for $230.57, generating $2.13 million from the sale.
• Chief Executive – Europe Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 3,684 shares for $230.29, generating $848,388 from the sale.
• Chief Operating Officer Johan Deblaere sold 3,000 shares for $230.27, generating $690,809 from the sale.
• Chief Financial Officer Kathleen R. McClure sold 2,250 shares for $230.20, generating $517,941 from the sale.
• Chief Accounting Officer Richard P. Clark sold 1,847 shares for $230.59, generating $425,899 from the sale.
• Chief Exec-North America James O. Etheredge sold 1,670 shares for $229.24, generating $382,835 from the sale.

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