Insider Weekends – April 24, 2015

Welcome to edition 253 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying increased last week with insiders buying $38.91 million of stock compared to $33.56 million in the week prior. Selling on the other hand decreased with insiders selling $561.54 million of stock last week compared to $883.34 million 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 14.43. In other words, insiders sold more than 14 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 26.32. Before we read too much into this drop, it is important to keep in mind that we are in the thick of earnings season and hence insider transactions in general are muted. We are calculating an adjusted ratio by removing transactions by funds and companies and trying as best as possible only to retain information about insiders and 10% owners who are not funds or companies.

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. NexPoint Residential Trust, Inc (NXRT): $13.97

President James D. Dondero acquired 472,200 shares of this apartment REIT, paying $13.97 per share for a total amount of $6.59 million. These shares were acquired indirectly by Highland Capital Management, L.P.

NXRT was spun-off from the closed-end fund NexPoint Credit Strategies Fund (NHF) and started trading earlier this month. Mr. Dondero is the Co-Founder and President of Highland Capital Management, a Dallas-based investment management firm with $21 billion in assets under management.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for NexPoint Residential Trust, Inc here.

2. AGCO Corporation (AGCO): $48.31

Director Mallika Srinivasan acquired 28,966 shares of this farm & construction machinery company, paying $47.82 per share for a total amount of $1.39 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Chennai, India based TAFE Motors and Tractors Limited.

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

3. General Electric Company (GE): $26.8

Shares of General Electric were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Director Marijn E. Dekkers acquired 20,000 shares, paying $26.93 per share for a total amount of $538,600. These shares were acquired indirectly through a trust.
• Director James E. Rohr acquired 20,000 shares, paying $27.15 per share for a total amount of $543,000. These shares were acquired indirectly through a trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for General Electric Company here.

4. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (SFBS): $35.16

Director Michael D. Fuller acquired 23,695 shares of this bank holding company, paying $34.81 per share for a total amount of $824,892. Mr. Fuller increased his stake by 43.24% to 78,489 shares with this purchase.

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

5. Biglari Holdings Inc. (BH): $396.61

Chairman and CEO Sardar Biglari, acquired 1,215 shares of this restaurant holding company, paying $411.32 per share for a total amount of $499,754. These shares were purchased indirectly by The Lion Fund.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Kinder Morgan, Inc. (KMI): $44.34

Shares of this oil & gas pipeline company were sold by 2 insiders:

• Director Park C. Shaper sold 1,000,000 shares for $43.70, generating $43.69 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Family Limited Partnership and Limited Liability Company.
• VP (President, Terminals) John W. Schlosser sold 17,566 shares for $44.48, generating $781,336 from the sale.

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

2. The Charles Schwab Corporation (SCHW): $30.12

Shares of this investment brokerage were sold by 2 insiders:

• Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 1,260,000 shares for $30.48, generating $38.4 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.
• President and CEO Walter W. Bettinger sold 100,000 shares for $30.28, generating $3.03 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for The Charles Schwab Corporation here.

3. Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (SIX): $51.08

Chairman, President & CEO James Reid-anderson sold 150,000 shares of this theme park operator for $50.08, generating $7.51 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Six Flags Entertainment Corporation here.

4. salesforce.com, inc. (CRM): $67.83

Shares of this software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider were sold by 3 insiders:

• Chairman of the Board & CEO Marc Benioff sold 87,500 shares for $67.45, generating $5.9 million from the sale.
• Co-Founder Parker Harris sold 5,000 shares for $67.46, generating $337,320 from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Pres, Applications & Platform Alexandre Dayon sold 4,171 shares for $67.38, generating $281,063 from the sale. 1,667 of 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.

5. CSX Corp. (CSX): $37.12

Director Gilbert H. Lamphere sold 165,556 shares of this railroad company for $32.38, generating $5.36 million from the sale.

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

You can view the full list of sales from this Insider Sales page.

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