Insider Trading 25 January 2013: Parker-Hannifin and Monsanto Big Sellers This Week

by Asif Suria

Insider buying decreased with insiders purchasing $25.42 million of their stock last week compared to $111.09 million in the week prior. Selling increased with insiders selling $701.64 million of stock last week compared to $385.32 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 went up to 27.6. In other words, insiders sold more than 3 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 3.47.

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.

Just as the majority of insider buying last week was related to Carl Icahn’s $100 million purchase of CVR Refining (CVRR), a majority of insider selling this week was related to sales of $423.76 million by shareholders of Cobalt International Energy (CIE) in a secondary offering. Excluding those sales, the Sell/Buy ratio would have dropped to 10.93.

Insider Sell Buy Ratio January 25, 2013

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. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (HBAN): $6.93

President, CEO & Chairman Stephen D. Steinour acquired 40,000 shares of this regional bank, paying $7.04 per share for a total amount of $281,587. Mr. Steinour increased his stake by 1.88% to 2,172,991 shares with this purchase.

This purchase by the CEO did not generate much confidence from investors in this Columbus, Ohio based bank. The bank has $56.24 billion in assets, trades just above book value and a Troubled Asset Ratio (TAR) of 10.8, just below the national median TAR of 11.4. The lower the TAR, the better.

The stock sports a dividend yield of 2.3%, which is inline with the yields of other large regional banks such as KeyCorp (KEY) and U.S. Bancorp (USB) but Huntington trades at a lower P/E than most regional banks with assets over $50 billion.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Huntington Bancshares Incorporated here.

2. ValueVision Media Inc. (VVTV): $2.61

Shares of this multichannel electronic retailer and parent of ShopNBC were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Chief Executive Officer Keith R. Stewart acquired 100,000 shares, paying $2.40 per share for a total amount of $240,430. Mr. Stewart increased his stake by 6.29% to 1,690,700 shares with this purchase.
• Director Sean F. Orr acquired 11,075 shares, paying $2.31 per share for a total amount of $25,626. Mr. Orr increased his stake by 12.96% to 96,550 shares with this purchase.

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

3. Bank of America Corporation (BAC): $11.62

Director David R. Yost acquired 20,000 shares of Bank of America, paying $11.53 per share for a total amount of $230,600. Mr. Yost increased his stake by 82.81% to 44,153 shares with this purchase.

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

4. Kronos Worldwide Inc. (KRO): $18.84

Director Glenn R. Simmons acquired 10,000 shares of this specialty chemicals company, paying $19.46 per share for a total amount of $194,575. Mr. Simmons increased his stake by 20.68% to 58,362 shares with this purchase.

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

5. USA Compression Partners LP (USAC): $17.8

Director Robert F. End acquired 10,000 shares of this natural gas compression services company, paying $17.88 per share for a total amount of $178,813.

The company went public earlier this month at a price of $18 per share and closed the first day of trading at $17.60.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for USA Compression Partners LP here.

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Parker-Hannifin Corporation (PH): $94.37

Shares of this industrial equipment & components company were sold by 7 insiders:

• EVP – Operating Officer Lee C. Banks sold 11,751 shares for $92.31, generating $1.08 million from the sale.
• EVP – Human Resources Daniel S. Serbin sold 7,500 shares for $93.26, generating $699,450 from the sale.
• EVP – Operating Officer Thomas L. Williams sold 7,188 shares for $92.01, generating $661,368 from the sale.
• VP- Chief Information Officer William G. Eline sold 5,205 shares for $92.12, generating $479,460 from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• VP – Technology and Innovation Martin C. Maxwell sold 5,000 shares for $92.00, generating $460,000 from the sale.
• VP, President – Hydraulics Group Jeffery A. Cullman sold 5,000 shares for $92.00, generating $460,000 from the sale.
• VP, Pres – Instrumentation Group John R. Greco sold 2,793 shares for $93.25, generating $260,447 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 Parker-Hannifin Corporation here.

2. Monsanto Company (MON): $103.45

Shares of this agricultural products company were sold by 2 insiders:

• Chairman & CEO Hugh Grant sold 30,000 shares for $102.14, generating $3.06 million from the sale.
• Director Charles S. McMillan sold 3,000 shares for $101.55, generating $304,640 from the sale.

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

3. Douglas Emmett Inc (DEI): $23.79

Chairman of the Board Dan A. Emmett sold 140,000 shares of this apartment REIT for $23.62, generating $3.3 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by the Emmett Foundation.

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

4. Morgan Stanley (MS): $22.7

Shares of this global financial services firm were sold by 3 insiders:

• President, Institutional Securities Thomas Colm Kelleher sold 53,486 shares for $22.23, generating $1.19 million from the sale.
• Deputy CFO/Controller Paul C. Wirth sold 38,771 shares for $22.05, generating $854,901 from the sale. 675 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale. Mr. Wirth transferred his balance held in the Morgan Stanley Stock Fund to other funds in the Morgan Stanley 401(k) Plan.
• Chief Risk Officer Keishi Hotsuki sold 38,191 shares for $22.05, generating $842,112 from the sale.

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

5. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM): $47.16

Shares of this global financial services firm were sold by 2 insiders:

• Co-Chief Operating Officer Matthew E. Zames sold 31,750 shares for $46.42, generating $1.47 million from the sale.
• Executive Vice President Gordon Smith sold 21,140 shares for $46.83, generating $990,052 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for JPMorgan Chase & Co. here.

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