Insider Trading 03 May 2013: Netflix and Cabela Big Sellers This Week

by Asif Suria

Insider buying dropped nearly in half with insiders purchasing $21.26 million of their stock last week compared to $40.11 million in the week prior. Selling increased with insiders selling $1.94 billion of stock last week compared to $1.11 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 increased to 91.2. In other words, insiders sold more than 91 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 27.77.

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.

Insider Sell Buy Ratio May 3, 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. NuStar Energy L.P. (NS): $49.09

Shares of this oil & gas pipeline company were acquired by 3 insiders:

• Director William E. Greehey acquired 58,000 shares, paying $51.38 per share for a total amount of $2.98 million Mr. Greehey increased his stake by 2.68% to 2,225,577 shares with this purchase.
• Director William Grady Rosier acquired 2,000 shares, paying $50.53 per share for a total amount of $101,062. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.
• Director Jesse D. Bates acquired 1,000 shares, paying $48.12 per share for a total amount of $48,120. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for NuStar Energy L.P. here.

2. NuStar GP Holdings, LLC (NSH): $29.75

Shares of this oil storage and pipeline company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Director William E. Greehey acquired 68,313 shares, paying $30.79 per share for a total amount of $2.1 million. Mr. Greehey increased his stake by 0.86% to 8,015,792 shares with this purchase.
• Director William B. Burnett acquired 100 shares, paying $30.49 per share for a total amount of $3,049.

It is interesting to see insider buying both the general partner and limited partner shares of NuStar.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for NuStar GP Holdings, LLC here.

3. Opko Health, Inc. (OPK): $6.67

Shares of this medical devices and drug development company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• CEO & Chairman Phillip Frost M.D. acquired 272,500 shares, paying $6.64 per share for a total amount of $1.8 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Frost Gamma Investments Trust.
• Executive VP-Administration Steven D. Rubin acquired 4,300 shares, paying $6.46 per share for a total amount of $27,771. Mr. Rubin increased his stake by 0.10% to 4,195,468 shares with this purchase.

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

4. Invacare Corporation (IVC): $13.66

Shares of this medical appliances & equipment company were acquired by 7 insiders:

• Chairman Aaron Malachi Mixon I acquired 50,000 shares, paying $12.59 per share for a total amount of $629,452. Mr. Mixon increased his stake by 17.09% to 342,546 shares with this purchase. 27,150 of these shares were purchased indirectly by the reporting person’s spouse.
• Director William M. Weber acquired 5,000 shares, paying $12.15 per share for a total amount of $60,750. Mr. Weber increased his stake by 7.50% to 71,643 shares with this purchase.
• Senior Vice President Louis F. Slangen acquired 1,000 shares, paying $13.05 per share for a total amount of $13,046. Mr. Slangen increased his stake by 2.82% to 36,495 shares with this purchase.
• Director Ellen O. Tauscher acquired 1,000 shares, paying $12.30 per share for a total amount of $12,297. Ms. Tauscher increased her stake by 10.00% to 11,000 shares with this purchase.
• President and CEO Gerald B. Blouch acquired 1,000 shares, paying $13.59 per share for a total amount of $13,587. These shares were purchased indirectly by the reporting person’s spouse.
• Director Dale C. LaPorte acquired 1,000 shares, paying $12.24 per share for a total amount of $12,240. Mr. LaPorte increased his stake by 4.73% to 22,126 shares with this purchase.
• Director Baiju R. Shah acquired 1,000 shares, paying $13.01 per share for a total amount of $13,009. Mr. Shah increased his stake by 7.31% to 14,681 shares with this purchase.

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

5. Key Energy Services Inc. (KEG): $6.24

Shares of this onshore drilling services company were acquired by 6 insiders:

• CEO, President and Chair Richard J. Alario acquired 50,000 shares, paying $5.96 per share for a total amount of $298,181. Mr. Alario increased his stake by 4.02% to 1,294,698 shares with this purchase.
• Director William D. Fertig acquired 20,000 shares, paying $5.97 per share for a total amount of $119,400. Mr. Fertig increased his stake by 14.82% to 154,926 shares with this purchase.
• Director William F. Owens acquired 10,000 shares, paying $5.83 per share for a total amount of $58,300. Mr. Owens increased his stake by 19.12% to 62,311 shares with this purchase.
• EVP and COO Newton W. Wilson III acquired 10,000 shares, paying $6.34 per share for a total amount of $63,400. Mr. Wilson increased his stake by 1.86% to 546,754 shares with this purchase.
• Director Ralph S. Michael III acquired 10,000 shares, paying $5.95 per share for a total amount of $59,500. Mr. Michael increased his stake by 9.45% to 115,809 shares with this purchase.
• VP and Controller Mark Alan Cox acquired 2,500 shares, paying $6.05 per share for a total amount of $15,125. Mr. Cox increased his stake by 6.62% to 40,249 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Key Energy Services Inc. here.

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Netflix, Inc. (NFLX): $213.45

Shares of Netflix were sold by 4 insiders:

• Director Jay C. Hoag sold 450,000 shares for $215.92, generating $97.2 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through funds.
• Director George Battle sold 24,000 shares for $215.14, generating $5.2 million from the sale.
• CFO David B. Wells sold 10,912 shares for $214.60, generating $2.3 million from the sale.
• Chief Business Dev Officer William J. Holmes sold 750 shares for $215.92, generating $161,940 from the sale.

We don’t normally highlight sales by fund manager but we decided to make an exception in this case. Back in May 2012 we highlighted multiple purchases of Netflix by Mr. Hoag at prices approximately averaging $73. Here is what we said following those purchases:

“Mr. Hoag is the founding member of venture capital firm Technology Crossover Partners, which manages $3.3 billion in assets. He has served as a director of Netflix since 1999 and has been a technology investor for over 29 years.”

We wrote the following about the company last month when another director paid $85.05 for 6,000 shares of Netflix, “after years of heavy insider selling, we are seeing our first insider purchase after Netflix saw its stock drop precipitously over the last year. The bears had it right that higher content costs and competition in the streaming space will eventually hit Netflix’s margins. While this purchase might give the bulls some ammunition in the short-term, I am not convinced Netflix has hit bottom yet.”

The stock is down an additional 15% since then and is probably worth exploring further in light of Mr. Hoag’s purchase.”

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

2. Cabela’s Incorporated (CAB): $64.71

Shares of this sporting goods retailer were sold by 2 insiders:

• Chairman Richard N. Cabela sold 719,036 shares for $64.35, generating $46.3 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Cabela’s Family, LLC.
• Director Michael R. McCarthy sold 292,200 shares for $64.42, generating $18.8 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by MGL Holdings, LLC.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Cabela’s Incorporated here.

3. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (REGN): $266.16

Shares of this biotech company were sold by 2 insiders:

• President & CEO Leonard S. Schleifer sold 100,000 shares for $237.65, generating $23.8 million from the sale.
• VP Controller & Asst Treasurer Douglas S. McCorkle sold 2,213 shares for $244.79, generating $541,725 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 Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. here.

4. AutoNation Inc. (AN): $45.63

Shares of this automotive retailer were sold by 2 insiders:

• Director, President and COO Michael E. Maroone sold 249,265 shares for $44.70, generating $11.1 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by the Michael Maroone Family Partnership.
• Director Robert J. Brown sold 10,000 shares for $45.00, generating $450,000 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 AutoNation Inc. here.

5. The Boeing Company (BA): $93.74

Shares of Boeing were sold by 5 insiders:

• SVP, Internal Governance Wanda K. Denson-low sold 49,083 shares for $91.17, generating $4.5 million from the sale. 45,813 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• SVP, President, Boeing International Shephard W. Hill sold 23,521 shares for $91.21, generating $2.1 million from the sale.
• SVP, EO&T & CTO John J. Tracy sold 16,459 shares for $91.23, generating $1.5 million from the sale.
• SVP, Government Operations Timothy John Keating sold 15,000 shares for $91.13, generating $1.4 million from the sale.
• EVP, Pres. & CEO, BCA Raymond L. Conner sold 2,965 shares for $91.05, generating $269,963 from the sale.

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

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

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