by Asif Suria
Insider buying dropped nearly in half with insiders purchasing $27.62 million of their stock last week compared to $53.87 million in the week prior. Selling also decreased with insiders selling $1.29 billion of stock last week compared to $1.65 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 46.7. In other words, insiders sold almost 47 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 30.7. This is the fifth week in a row the insider Sell/Buy ratio has gone up in tandem with the market.
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. Murphy Oil Corporation (MUR): $61.35
Director Claiborne P. Deming acquired 80,000 shares of this oil & gas exploration & production company, paying $60.34 per share for a total amount of $4.83 million. Mr. Deming increased his stake by 11.71% to 763,330 shares with this purchase.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Murphy Oil Corporation here.
P/E: 12.31 | Forward P/E: 9.4 | Industry P/E: 12.22 |
P/S: 0.41 | Price/Book: 1.3 | EV/EBITDA: 3.77 |
Market Cap: $11.87B | Avg. Daily Volume: 1,830,910 | 52 Week Range: $43.29 – $65.6 |
2. Akamai Technologies, Inc. (AKAM): $38.49
Shares of this content delivery and cloud infrastructure company were acquired by 2 insiders:
- Chief Executive Officer Thomson F. Leighton acquired 50,000 shares, paying $35.31 per share for a total amount of $1.77 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.
- Director George H. Conrades acquired 27,325 shares, paying $36.74 per share for a total amount of $1 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.
Akamai saw its stock drop sharply on February 6th from $41.58 to $35.26 on nearly 10 times average daily volume after reporting fourth quarter results despite a 17% increase in fourth quarter revenue to $378 million and better than expected earnings of 54 cents per share. Investors instead decided to focus on revenue not meeting expectations and first quarter revenue forecast of $352 million to $362 million falling short of the $369.8 million analysts were expecting.
The stock regained most of the losses from last week buoyed higher by these insider purchases.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Akamai Technologies, Inc. here.
P/E: 34.37 | Forward P/E: 16.81 | Industry P/E: 27.71 |
P/S: 4.91 | Price/Book: 2.87 | EV/EBITDA: 12.54 |
Market Cap: $6.85B | Avg. Daily Volume: 3,392,310 | 52 Week Range: $25.9 – $42.53 |
3. Opko Health, Inc. (OPK): $6.73
CEO & Chairman Phillip Frost M.D. acquired 215,000 shares of this medical devices and drug development company, paying $6.53 per share for a total amount of $1.4 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Frost Gamma Investments Trust.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Opko Health, Inc. here.
P/E: N/A | Forward P/E: N/A | Industry P/E: 21.76 |
P/S: 55.52 | Price/Book: 13.79 | EV/EBITDA: -80.55 |
Market Cap: $2.01B | Avg. Daily Volume: 2,222,590 | 52 Week Range: $4 – $7.22 |
4. Hancock Holding Company (HBHC): $31.52
Director Terence E. Hall acquired 21,000 shares of this bank holding company, paying $31.43 per share for a total amount of $660,114. Mr. Hall increased his stake by 135.48% to 36,501 shares with this purchase.
Hancock is a regional bank holding company that trades at 1.09 times tangible book value, sports a 3.1% dividend yield and belongs to the small group of banks that did not cut its dividend through the last recession. Its two subsidiaries Hancock Bank and Whitney Bank together account for $19.5 billion in loan assets.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Hancock Holding Company here.
P/E: 18.01 | Forward P/E: 12.03 | Industry P/E: 15.13 |
P/S: 2.93 | Price/Book: 1.09 | EV/EBITDA: N/A |
Market Cap: $2.67B | Avg. Daily Volume: 426,015 | 52 Week Range: $27.96 – $36.73 |
5. Wet Seal Inc. (WTSLA): $3.03
Chief Executive Officer John D. Goodman acquired 218,256 shares of this apparel chain, paying $2.98 per share for a total amount of $649,995. Mr. Goodman increased his stake by 115.11% to 407,856 shares with this purchase.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Wet Seal Inc. here.
Voluntary Disclosure: I have a long position in Wet Seal.
P/E: N/A | Forward P/E: 75.75 | Industry P/E: 17.46 |
P/S: 0.46 | Price/Book: 1.23 | EV/EBITDA: -226.95 |
Market Cap: $271.52M | Avg. Daily Volume: 547,439 | 52 Week Range: $2.42 – $3.72 |
You can view the full list of purchases from this Insider Buying page.
Notable Insider Sales:
1. News Corp. (NWS): $29.34
Chairman and CEO Keith Rupert Murdoch sold 1,396,571 shares of this media company for $28.72, generating $40.11 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for News Corp. here.
P/E: 17.59 | Forward P/E: N/A | Industry P/E: N/A |
P/S: 1.96 | Price/Book: 2.4 | EV/EBITDA: 11.07 |
Market Cap: $68.22B | Avg. Daily Volume: 3,137,460 | 52 Week Range: $18.52 – $29.39 |
2. Geospace Technologies Corporation (GEOS): $103.35
Shares of this seismic data equipment manufacturer were sold by 2 insiders:
- President & CEO Gary D. Owens sold 237,760 shares for $103.05, generating $24.5 million from the sale. 17,500 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
- CFO & Secretary Thomas T. Mcentire sold 25,000 shares for $106.79, generating $2.67 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 Geospace Technologies Corporation here.
P/E: 27.45 | Forward P/E: 15.97 | Industry P/E: 23.09 |
P/S: 5.99 | Price/Book: 5.66 | EV/EBITDA: 16.2 |
Market Cap: $1.33B | Avg. Daily Volume: 122,256 | 52 Week Range: $40.31 – $113.73 |
3. Kansas City Southern (KSU): $97.77
Shares of this freight rail company were sold by 2 insiders:
- Director Henry R. Davis sold 67,300 shares for $94.44, generating $6.36 million from the sale.
- Director Robert J. Druten sold 20,000 shares for $96.00, generating $1.92 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 Kansas City Southern here.
P/E: 28.54 | Forward P/E: 19.55 | Industry P/E: 16.23 |
P/S: 4.8 | Price/Book: 3.48 | EV/EBITDA: 14.1 |
Market Cap: $10.77B | Avg. Daily Volume: 929,276 | 52 Week Range: $61.36 – $98.34 |
4. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS): $154.99
Vice Chairman Michael S. Sherwood sold 50,000 shares of Goldman Sachs for $152.03, generating $7.6 million from the sale. 10,544 of these shares were sold indirectly by Mr. Sherwood’s spouse.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. here.
P/E: 10.97 | Forward P/E: 10.41 | Industry P/E: 12.87 |
P/S: 2.22 | Price/Book: 1.11 | EV/EBITDA: N/A |
Market Cap: $75.34B | Avg. Daily Volume: 4,209,070 | 52 Week Range: $90.43 – $156.72 |
5. Viacom, Inc. (VIAB): $59.46
Chairman of the Board Sumner M. Redstone sold 128,777 shares of this media and entertainment company for $58.87, generating $7.58 million from the sale.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Viacom, Inc. here.
P/E: 13.96 | Forward P/E: 11.03 | Industry P/E: N/A |
P/S: 2.24 | Price/Book: 4.15 | EV/EBITDA: 9.56 |
Market Cap: $29.43B | Avg. Daily Volume: 3,724,070 | 52 Week Range: $35.13 – $49.85 |
You can view the full list of sales from this Insider Sales page.