Insider Trading 09 August 2013: Amazon Chairman Sells An Additional $115 million

by Asif Suria

Insider buying increased with insiders purchasing $168.85 million of their stock last week compared to $110.7 million in the week prior. Selling inched up a bit with insiders selling $2.23 billion of stock last week compared to $2.21 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 decreased to 13.19. In other words, insiders sold more than 13 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 19.92.

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 August 9, 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. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX): $31.61

Shares of this mining company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Director Gerald J. Ford acquired 1,000,000 shares, paying $29.18 per share for a total amount of $29,175,530. These shares were purchased indirectly by Diamond Family Investments LP.
• Director Bobby Lee Lackey acquired 1,800 shares, paying $29.09 per share for a total amount of $52,356. These shares were purchased indirectly through an IRA.

This is the second week in a row that Freeport-McMoRan has held the top spot for insider purchases with four different insiders picking up shares over the last two weeks.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. here.

2. Philip Morris International, Inc. (PM): $88.7

Director Graham Mackay acquired 124,825 shares of this tobacco products company, paying $89.15 per share for a total amount of $11.13 million.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Philip Morris International, Inc. here.

3. Leucadia National Corporation (LUK): $27.18

Director Robert D. Beyer acquired 40,000 shares of this conglomerate, paying $26.55 per share for a total amount of $1.06 million.

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

4. Kinder Morgan Management LLC (KMR): $80.48

Chairman and CEO Richard D. Kinder acquired 11,851 shares of this oil & gas pipelines company, paying $79.49 per share for a total amount of $942,036. Mr. Kinder increased his stake by 3.91% to 314,595 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Kinder Morgan Management LLC here.

5. Digital Realty Trust Inc. (DLR): $56.27

Director Laurence A. Chapman acquired 12,200 shares of this office REIT, paying $54.58 per share for a total amount of $665,900. These shares were purchased indirectly by Mr. Chapman’s children.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Digital Realty Trust Inc. here.

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN): $297.26

Shares of Amazon were sold by 4 insiders:

• Chairman, CEO and President Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 385,062 shares for $300.65, generating $115.77 million from the sale.
• Senior Vice President and CFO Thomas J. Szkutak sold 10,000 shares for $303.48, generating $3.03 million from the sale.
• Senior Vice President Jeffrey A. Wilke sold 7,863 shares for $302.29, generating $2.38 million from the sale.
• Director William B. Gordon sold 1,076 shares for $300.41, generating $323,242 from the sale.

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

2. Facebook, Inc. (FB): $38.5

Shares of Facebook were sold by 2 insiders:

• Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg sold 2,372,291 shares for $38.41, generating $91.12 million from the sale. 6,696 of these shares were sold indirectly through a trust.
• VP, Gen. Counsel & Secretary Colin Stretch sold 2,287 shares for $39.10, generating $89,422 from the sale.

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

3. Proto Labs, Inc. (PRLB): $66.03

Shares of this molded plastic parts producer were sold by 3 insiders:

• Director Lawrence J. Lukis sold 1,000,000 shares for $65.57, generating $65.57 million from the sale.
• Chief Financial Officer John R. Judd sold 50,000 shares for $63.77, generating $3.19 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Director Brian K. Smith sold 40,000 shares for $68.48, generating $2,739,092 from the sale.

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

4. Mercadolibre, Inc. (MELI): $123.65

President and CEO Marcos Galperin sold 293,338 shares of this Latin American E-commerce company for $125.01, generating $36.67 million from the sale.

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

5. United Online, Inc. (UNTD): $8.22

Shares of this online retailer were sold by 6 insiders:

• Chairman, President & CEO Mark R. Goldston sold 1,632,778 shares for $8.47, generating $13.83 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• EVP & Chief Financial Officer Neil P. Edwards sold 309,417 shares for $8.55, generating $2.64 million from the sale. 100,000 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• EVP, Chief Personnel Officer Paul Jordan sold 198,521 shares for $8.49, generating $1.69 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• EVP, General Counsel, Sec. Charles B. Ammann sold 150,306 shares for $8.67, generating $1.3 million from the sale. 116,666 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• President, Communications Robert J. Taragan sold 84,233 shares for $8.57, generating $721,773 from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Director James T. Armstrong sold 20,000 shares for $8.48, generating $169,700 from the sale.

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

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