Insider Weekends: The Shoen Brothers Purchase $45 Million Worth Of AMERCO

Welcome to edition 573 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying increased significantly last week with insiders purchasing $156.77 million of stock purchased compared to $31.91 million in the week prior. Selling on the other hand, decreased to $1.85 billion compared to $2.17 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 11.82. In other words, insiders sold almost 12 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week when the ratio stood at 67.99.

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. AMERCO (UHAL): $526.51

Chairman/President Edward J. Shoen acquired 81,810 shares of this DIY moving and storage operator, paying $551.76 per share for a total amount of $45.14 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Willow Grove Holdings LP.

Willow Grove Holdings LP is owned indirectly by the Shoen brothers Edward “Joe” Shoen and Mark Shoen. U-Haul’s founder Leonard Shoen had 12 children and the brothers, Joe, James and Mark hold a significant stake in U-Haul’s parent company Amerco. The Bloomberg article Hidden U-Haul Billionaire Emerges With Storage Empire provides some interesting background on the brothers.

These purchases were probably prompted by the greater than 14% decline in the stock price of AMERCO over the last month. This decline has occurred despite the company reporting earnings of $31.15 per share for fiscal 2021 ended March 31, 2021, which is more than double earnings from fiscal 2020 after you remove the one-time benefit from the CARES Act in fiscal 2020. The company reported record operating income in fiscal 2021 on account of favorable macro conditions where a lot of people moved during COVID-19 and either used U-Haul’s trucks to move or used their self storage facilities. These tail winds will eventually slow down and the company is having a harder time acquiring trucks to fuel its growth.

The stock reflects these concerns and is down from an intraday high of $657.86 in March 2021 to current levels. Despite this pullback, the stock is still trading well above its pre-pandemic range of $350 to $400. Obviously this is not the same company either and the balance sheet is much stronger now than it was pre-pandemic. Trading at less than 9 times cash flow, the stock is not expensive as long as it has not yet hit its cyclical peak.

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

2. Transocean Ltd. (RIG): $3.88

Director Frederik Wilhelm Mohn acquired 5,000,000 shares of this offshore contract drilling services provider, paying $4.18 per share for a total amount of $20.91 million. These shares were purchased by Perestroika AS.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Transocean Ltd. here.

3. Asana, Inc. (ASAN): $57.8

President, CEO, & Chair Dustin A. Moskovitz acquired 640,000 shares of this project management software company, paying $47.25 per share for a total amount of $30.24 million. Mr. Moskovitz increased his stake by 37.43% to 2,350,000 shares with this purchase.

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

4. PennyMac Financial Services, Inc. (PFSI): $62.53

Director Farhad Nanji acquired 193,915 shares of this mortgage finance company, paying $61.95 per share for a total amount of $12.01 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by MFN Partners, LP.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for PennyMac Financial Services, Inc. here.

5. Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated (CORT): $22.5

Director Leonard G. Baker Jr. acquired 150,000 shares of this biotech company, paying $21.53 per share for a total amount of $3.23 million. Mr. Baker increased his stake by 4.75% to 3,308,303 shares with this purchase. 100,000 of these shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated here.

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Walmart Inc. (WMT): $135.17

Director Robson S. Walton sold 3,095,606 shares of Walmart for $139.27, generating $431.13 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by a trust.

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

2. FB Financial Corporation (FBK): $36.97

Director James W. Ayers sold 2,500,000 shares of this regional bank for $40.84, generating $102.1 million from the sale.

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

3. C3.ai, Inc. (AI): $59.18

Shares of this enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) software company were sold by 3 insiders:

• Chief Executive Officer Thomas M. Siebel sold 705,644 shares for $58.96, generating $41.6 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by a trust.
• Senior VP and CMO Bruce A. Cleveland sold 50,000 shares for $59.42, generating $2.97 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Director Stephen M. Ward Jr. sold 20,000 shares for $60.03, generating $1.2 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for C3.ai, Inc. here.

4. DraftKings Inc. (DKNG): $48.06

Director Shalom Meckenzie sold 660,000 shares of this digital sports entertainment and gaming company for $51.56, generating $34.03 million from the sale.

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

5. Vail Resorts, Inc. (MTN): $316.28

Shares of this mountain resorts and urban ski areas operator were sold by 2 insiders:

• Chief Executive Officer & Chairman Robert A. Katz sold 91,661 shares for $321.76, generating $29.49 million from the sale.
• Director Peter A. Vaughn sold 1,000 shares for $321.93, generating $321,930 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Vail Resorts, 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.