Insider Weekends: Frederik Wilhelm Mohn Buys Shares Of Transocean

Welcome to edition 575 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying increased last week with insiders purchasing $256.32 million of stock purchased compared to $197.54 million in the week prior. Selling also increased significantly to $4.37 billion compared to $2.28 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 went up to 17.05. In other words, insiders sold more than 17 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week when the ratio stood at 11.53.

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. Asana, Inc. (ASAN): $67.16

President, CEO, & Chair Dustin A. Moskovitz acquired 800,000 shares of this project management software company, paying $62.65 per share for a total amount of $50.12 million. Mr. Moskovitz increased his stake by 25.40% to 3,950,000 shares with this purchase.

We wrote about Asana last week and considering Mr. Moskovitz has been buying shares under a 10b5-1 trading plan, it is not surprising that he bought even more shares even as other insiders like the CFO, COO and General Counsel are selling. Most of the sales by the other insiders are options related sales and not unusual after a company goes public.

We wrote the following about the company last week,

While it is unusual for insiders of a newly public company to buy shares as we highlighted with the Bumble purchases, it is even more unusual to see an insider buy shares multiple times though a defined trading plan (a 10b5-1 plan) as we have seen with Mr. Moskovitz since June 2021. The stock is already up more than $20 a share since he started buying shares. Asana’s market cap is a little over $10 billion and Mr. Moskovitz’s net worth is estimated to be over $21 billion.

There are many productivity software companies out there including Monday.com, Smartsheet (SMAR) and Atlassian (TEAM). I was an early adopter of Smartsheet (before Office 365 made Excel online a viable competitor), have held Atlassian shares for several years and nearly two decades ago wrote most of the code for an online project management module in an enterprise software application that is still in use. The barriers to entry appear low from the outside but the highly competitive nature of this industry makes it difficult for new entrants to gain enough traction to unseat incumbents unless the product is sufficiently unique or there is a lot of capital backing the company.

This Twitter thread by the CEO of a company that was an Asana competitor provides a fascinating inside look into just how competitive this little area of the software industry can be. The thread is long but the screenshot below is the money shot as it relates to Asana and Mr. Moskovitz.

Given the nature of this little niche and Asana’s valuation (31 times estimated 2021 sales), I would prefer to watch how the Asana story unfolds from the sidelines despite Mr. Moskovitz’s enthusiasm for the stock.

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

2. Transocean Ltd. (RIG): $5.08

Director Frederik Wilhelm Mohn acquired 1,000,000 shares of this offshore contract drilling services provider for oil and gas wells, paying $4.53 per share for a total amount of $4.53 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Perestroika AS.

Mr. Mohn’s purchases also made our list last week and he has been consistently buying shares since June. He joined Transocean’s board in 2018 after Transocean acquired European offshore drilling company Songa Offshore SE. Mr. Mohn Chair of the Songa Board from 2014 to 2018.

The offshore drilling segment of the energy industry has gone through a lot of upheaval and bankruptcies during the last decade of volatile oil prices. With the price of WTI crude over $75/barrel offshore drilling is once again viable and it makes sense that Mr. Mohn is buying shares.

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

3. Vincerx Pharma, Inc. (VINC): $15.24

Shares of this biotech company were acquired by 8 insiders:

• Director Andrew I. McDonald acquired 20,000 shares, paying $12.38 per share for a total amount of $247,600.
• Director Christopher P. Lowe acquired 10,000 shares, paying $12.62 per share for a total amount of $126,152.
• Chief Financial Officer Alexander A. Seelenberger acquired 7,950 shares, paying $12.61 per share for a total amount of $100,260.
• Chief Executive Officer Ahmed Hamdy M.D. acquired 7,830 shares, paying $12.77 per share for a total amount of $99,989. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.
• General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer Tom C. Thomas acquired 2,000 shares, paying $12.58 per share for a total amount of $25,160. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.
• Director Laura I. Bushnell acquired 1,800 shares, paying $12.94 per share for a total amount of $23,297.
• Director John H. Lee acquired 799 shares, paying $12.72 per share for a total amount of $10,159.
• Chief Business Officer Sooin Hwang acquired 500 shares, paying $12.66 per share for a total amount of $6,330. Mr. Hwang increased his stake by 0.13% to 385,575 shares with this purchase.

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

4. SVB Financial Group (SIVB): $565.21

Director Garen K. Staglin acquired 500 shares of this regional bank, paying $564.55 per share for a total amount of $282,275. Mr. Staglin increased his stake by 3.79% to 13,680 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for SVB Financial Group here.

5. ACNB Corporation (ACNB): $28.97

Director Alan J. Stock acquired 10,000 shares of this regional bank, paying $28.13 per share for a total amount of $281,321.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Walmart Inc. (WMT): $140.11

Director Robson S. Walton sold 9,508,240 shares of Walmart for $137.65, generating $1.31 billion 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. XPO Logistics, Inc. (XPO): $143.91

Chief Executive Officer Jacobs S. Bradley sold 2,875,000 shares of this supply chain solutions provider for $133.86, generating $384.85 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Jacobs Private Equity, LLC.

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

3. Facebook, Inc. (FB): $354.7

Shares of Facebook were sold by 2 insiders:

• COB and CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 386,500 shares for $346.13, generating $133.78 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by various entities.
• VP and General Counsel Jennifer Newstead sold 250 shares for $356.49, generating $89,122 from the sale.

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

4. Copart, Inc. (CPRT): $135.24

Shares of this online auctions and vehicle remarketing services provider were sold by 2 insiders:

• Chief Executive Officer A Jayson Adair sold 300,000 shares for $133.18, generating $39.95 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by a trust.
• Director Matt Blunt sold 20,000 shares for $133.01, generating $2.66 million 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 Copart, Inc. here.

5. Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT): $138.16

Shares of this semiconductor company were sold by 4 insiders:

• President and CEO Gary E. Dickerson sold 175,000 shares for $140.00, generating $24.5 million from the sale.
• Senior Vice President, CTO Omkaram Nalamasu sold 51,000 shares for $142.16, generating $7.25 million from the sale.
• SVP, CLO Teri A. Little sold 13,500 shares for $138.03, generating $1.86 million from the sale.
• Senior Vice President, CFO Daniel Durn sold 6,000 shares for $138.83, generating $832,953 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Applied Materials, 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.