Insider Weekends: Insider Buying At Intel Continues

  • November 7, 2021

Last week we reported on a cluster of insider purchases at Intel (INTC) and this week saw a repeat performance with four insiders buying shares on the open market. In total we have seen 8 Intel insiders purchase shares during the last two weeks. The stock has been on the move gaining 4.44% since we wrote about it last week, partly benefiting from these insider purchases and partly from the big increase in semiconductor stocks last week. We wrote the following about Intel last week,

Many of us grew up in the age of the “Intel Inside” marketing campaigns and watched the company dominate the industry for several decades. Some might even remember those little gimmicky turbo buttons computers had to give you a little boost of processing power. In the current age of machine learning, cryptocurrency mining and embedded chips requiring vast amounts of processing power, Intel (INTC) has fallen behind both on the chip design and the manufacturing front.

The company hopes to turn things around and hired the well respected Pat Gelsinger as its CEO in February 201. The move was applauded by the hedge fund Third Point that now holds a large stake in Intel. Mr. Gelsinger has an engineering background with a Masters degree in Engineering from Stanford University and was one of the architects of Intel’s 80486 processor in the late 1980s. He brings the right combination of engineering chops and management experience, having previously served as the CEO of VMWare and the COO of EMC. This winning combination worked out great for AMD (AMD) when it hired Lisa Su as its CEO in 2014.

If you subscribe to the theory that we might see a rotation into value stocks from growth in the coming months, then Intel could be a good contender in the value/turnaround part of a portfolio.

Another interesting purchase this week was a cluster of purchases at the reinsurance company RenaissanceRe Holdings (RNR). A cluster of 5 insiders ponied up $4.36 million to purchase shares. Bermuda based RenaissanceRe was founded in 1993 and is one of the top players in the property catastrophic reinsurance segment of the insurance industry. In other words, it is the company that first-line insurance companies turn to to offload some of their risk. It is in this segment that Ajit Jain has made Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) a lot of money during the last several decades. RenaissanceRe has a well regarded management team and has a A+ rating from A.M. Best, S&P and Fitch.

The company had a difficult 2020 and the third quarter of 2021 was also particularly challenging as it grappled with exposure to the COVID-19 pandemic, damage from large weather events and wildfires. The company took a very large loss of $8.98 per share in Q3 2021 because of hurricane Ida in the U.S. and floods in Europe. The bright spots were a 55.2% increase in premiums written, a growing third-party management business and a shift to casualty and specialty underwriting. Management must be feeling pretty confident about the road ahead because not only were the insiders buying stock, the company repurchased $780 million worth of stock this year, representing more than 11% of their market cap.

Welcome to edition 592 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying increased significantly last week with insiders purchasing $123.44 million of stock purchased compared to $65.52 million in the week prior. Selling also increased significantly to $6.65 billion compared to $1.11 billion in the week prior.

This is a very significant six-fold increase in insider selling even after we discount the large $3.33 billion sale of Amazon by Jeff Bezos. In over a decade of tracking insider transactions, I don’t think I have ever seen this level of insider selling in a single week. Just like the big spike in insider purchases in mid-March 2020 provided a strong buying signal, it would behoove investors to pay attention to elevated levels of insider selling, especially if it continues in the coming weeks.

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 53.83. In other words, insiders sold almost 54 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week was unfavorable compared to the prior week when the ratio stood at 17.

Notable Insider Buys:

1. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (RNR): $152.55

Shares of this insurance company were acquired by 5 insiders:

  • President & Chief Executive Officer Kevin O’Donnell acquired 15,000 shares, paying $144.14 per share for a total amount of $2.16 million. Mr. O’Donnell increased his stake by 6.55% to 243,919 shares with this purchase.
  • EVP,Chief Underwriting Officer Ross Curtis acquired 6,900 shares, paying $144.14 per share for a total amount of $994,588. Mr. Curtis increased his stake by 5.59% to 130,401 shares with this purchase.
  • EVP, Group Chief Risk Officer Ian D. Branagan acquired 3,440 shares, paying $143.93 per share for a total amount of $495,113. Mr. Branagan increased his stake by 6.05% to 60,285 shares with this purchase.
  • EVP, Chief Financial Officer Robert Qutub acquired 3,400 shares, paying $144.14 per share for a total amount of $490,087. Mr. Qutub increased his stake by 6.37% to 56,746 shares with this purchase.
  • SVP, Chief Accounting Officer James Christopher Fraser acquired 1,500 shares, paying $145.18 per share for a total amount of $217,776. Mr. Fraser increased his stake by 9.84% to 16,741 shares with this purchase.

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

P/E: N/AForward P/E: 9.38Industry P/E: 10.60
P/S: 1.33Price/Book: 1.18EV/EBITDA: 52.41
Market Cap: $7.02BAvg. Daily Volume: 393,41052 Week Range: $137.66 – $185.05

2. Intel Corporation (INTC): $50.92

Shares of Intel were acquired by 4 insiders:

  • Director Omar Ishrak acquired 20,000 shares, paying $48.02 per share for a total amount of $960,418. Mr. Ishrak increased his stake by 131.59% to 35,199 shares with this purchase.
  • Director Gregory D. Smith acquired 10,440 shares, paying $47.96 per share for a total amount of $500,652. Mr. Smith increased his stake by 239.83% to 14,793 shares with this purchase.
  • Director Dion J. Weisler acquired 10,351 shares, paying $48.11 per share for a total amount of $498,035. Mr. Weisler increased his stake by 60.54% to 27,450 shares with this purchase.
  • Director Tsu-Jae King Liu acquired 1,000 shares, paying $48.00 per share for a total amount of $48,000. Ms. Liu increased her stake by 5.58% to 18,924 shares with this purchase.

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

P/E: 9.87Forward P/E: 13.76Industry P/E: 32.67
P/S: 2.64Price/Book: 2.3EV/EBITDA: 6.13
Market Cap: $207.09BAvg. Daily Volume: 24,015,78452 Week Range: $44.55 – $68.49

3. Fiserv, Inc. (FISV): $100.36

Director Denis O’Leary acquired 15,700 shares of this payment and financial services technology provider, paying $99.35 per share for a total amount of $1.56 million. Mr. Oleary increased his stake by 17.55% to 105,173 shares with this purchase.

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

P/E: 52Forward P/E: 15.46Industry P/E: 53.93
P/S: 4.19Price/Book: 2.1EV/EBITDA: 15.78
Market Cap: $66.26BAvg. Daily Volume: 4,113,00052 Week Range: $94.39 – $127.34

4. OP Bancorp (OPBK): $12.55

Shares of this regional bank were acquired by 2 insiders:

  • Director Ock Hee Kim acquired 80,000 shares, paying $12.64 per share for a total amount of $1.01 million. Mr. Kim increased his stake by 18.62% to 509,700 shares with this purchase.
  • Director Brian Choi acquired 7,800 shares, paying $12.69 per share for a total amount of $98,998. Mr. Choi increased his stake by 0.82% to 962,800 shares with this purchase

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

P/E: 8.14Forward P/E: 7.51Industry P/E: 8.05
P/S: 2.8Price/Book: 2.39EV/EBITDA: N/A
Market Cap: $189.92MAvg. Daily Volume: 20,33052 Week Range: $6.68 – $13

5. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (BXMT): $33.7

Director Henry N. Nassau acquired 30,000 shares of this real estate finance company, paying $32.73 per share for a total amount of $982,029. Mr. Nassau increased his stake by 40.20% to 104,631 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. here.

P/E: 13.13Forward P/E: 13.43Industry P/E: 8.09
P/S: 10.48Price/Book: 1.26EV/EBITDA: N/A
Market Cap: $5.29BAvg. Daily Volume: 1,122,50752 Week Range: $23.73 – $33.88

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN): $3,518.99

Executive Chair Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 1,000,000 shares of Amazon for $3,333.79, generating $3.33 billion from the sale.

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

P/E: 68.87Forward P/E: 68.46Industry P/E: N/A
P/S: 3.9Price/Book: 14.8EV/EBITDA: 30.04
Market Cap: $1.78TAvg. Daily Volume: 3,028,28052 Week Range: $2881 – $3773.08

2. Danaher Corporation (DHR): $292.08

Chairman of the Executive Committee Mitchell P. Rales sold 1,225,841 shares of this industrial, medical and commercial products company for $308.28, generating $377.91 million from the sale. 194,257 of these shares were sold indirectly by 401(k) plan.

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

P/E: 37.06Forward P/E: 28.83Industry P/E: 34.24
P/S: 7.44Price/Book: 5.19EV/EBITDA: 24.24
Market Cap: $208.71BAvg. Daily Volume: 2,227,79352 Week Range: $211.22 – $333.96

3. Coinbase Global, Inc. (COIN): $337.05

Shares of this cryptoeconomy focused broker were sold by 3 insiders:

  • Director Frederick Ernest Ehrsam III sold 271,271 shares for $341.19, generating $92.55 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.
  • Chief Product Officer Surojit Chatterjee sold 40,000 shares for $337.47, generating $13.49 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
  • Chief Accounting Officer Jennifer N. Jones sold 796 shares for $324.60, generating $258,382 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 Coinbase Global, Inc. here.

P/E: 24.82Forward P/E: 53.16Industry P/E: 16.04
P/S: 17.91Price/Book: 15.3EV/EBITDA: 22.9
Market Cap: $88.27BAvg. Daily Volume: 4,850,27552 Week Range: $208 – $429.54

4. Meta Platforms, Inc. (FB): $341.13

Shares of Facebook were sold by 2 insiders:

  • COB and CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 287,716 shares for $329.64, generating $94.84 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by various entities.
  • Chief Legal Officer Jennifer Newstead sold 125 shares for $331.44, generating $41,430 from the sale.

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

P/E: 24.41Forward P/E: 23.99Industry P/E: 28.48
P/S: 8.45Price/Book: 7.14EV/EBITDA: 16.51
Market Cap: $948.94BAvg. Daily Volume: 18,962,52052 Week Range: $244.61 – $384.33

5. Upstart Holdings, Inc. (UPST): $331.56

Shares of this cloud- based artificial intelligence (AI) lending platform were sold by 2 insiders:

  • Chief Executive Officer Dave Girouard sold 137,498 shares for $336.32, generating $46.24 million from the sale.
  • General Counsel Alison Nicoll sold 22,500 shares for $328.93, generating $7.4 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 Upstart Holdings, Inc. here.

P/E: 360.78Forward P/E: 199.74Industry P/E: 9.12
P/S: 54.58Price/Book: 35.94EV/EBITDA: 289.44
Market Cap: $25.78BAvg. Daily Volume: 5,301,40752 Week Range: $22.61 – $401.49

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: I hold a long position in Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B). 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.