Facebook Drives Huge Spike in Insider Selling

Insider Trading 27 December 2013: Facebook Mark Zuckerberg Selling over $2 Billion

by Asif Suria

It has been an interesting year tracking insider purchases in a market that is setting new record highs and the S&P 500 posting a gain of over 31% in the fifth year of a bull market. I will have to do some analysis once the year is over to see if insiders as a group outperformed the market in 2013.

As expected, insider buying declined sharply in the short holiday week with insiders purchasing $4.87 million of their stock last week compared to $137.24 million in the week prior. A big surprise awaited us on the selling side with insiders selling $2.81 billion of stock last week compared to $1.06 billion in the week prior. Much of this was driven by a $2.28 billion sale of Facebook (FB) by founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg as you can see here. This sale was part of a pre-announced offering of 70 million shares, with Facebook selling 27 million shares, Zuckerberg selling 41.35 million shares and venture capitalist and director Marc Andreessen selling 1.64 million shares.

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 576.9 on account of the large Facebook sale in a week where insider buying was muted. In other words, insiders sold almost 577 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 7.74. 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 December 27, 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. EOG Resources, Inc. (EOG): $169.16

Director Donald F. Textor acquired 6,000 shares of this independent oil & gas company, paying $168.61 per share for a total amount of $1.01 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.

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

2. Opko Health, Inc. (OPK): $8.58

CEO & Chairman Phillip Frost M.D. acquired 41,000 shares of this medical devices and drug development company, paying $8.94 per share for a total amount of $366,532. These shares were purchased indirectly by Frost Gamma Investments Trust.

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

3. Jabil Circuit Inc. (JBL): $17.01

Director Martha Brooks acquired 6,800 shares of this electronic manufacturing services provider, paying $16.13 per share for a total amount of $109,658. Ms. Brooks increased her stake by 13.68% to 56,500 shares with this purchase. 300 of these shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.

This purchase on weakness in the stock was interesting. The stock was hurt when the company forecast a weak February quarter after agreeing to disengage with its manufacturing partner Blackberry (BBRY) and on account of lower than expected sales of the iPhone 5c.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Jabil Circuit Inc. here.

4. Seneca Foods Corp. (SENEA): $31.93

Shares of this processed fruits and vegetables producer were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Director Pete Call acquired 3,334 shares, paying $30.33 per share for a total amount of $101,120. Mr. Call increased his stake by -212.76% to 1,767 shares with this purchase. 1,667 of these shares were purchased indirectly by Mr. Call’s spouse.
• Director Thomas Paulson acquired 250 shares, paying $31.37 per share for a total amount of $7,843. Mr. Paulson increased his stake by 25.00% to 1,250 shares with this purchase.

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

5. Gulfmark Offshore, Inc. (GLF): $46.66

Director Steven W. Kohlhagen acquired 2,200 shares of this offshore drilling services company, paying $45.91 per share for a total amount of $101,002. Mr. Kohlhagen increased his stake by 69.89% to 5,348 shares with this purchase.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Facebook, Inc. (FB): $55.44

Shares of Facebook were sold by 3 insiders:

• COB and CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 41,350,000 shares for $55.05, generating $2.28 billion from the sale.
• Director Marc L. Andreessen sold 1,645,239 shares for $55.05, generating $90.57 million from the sale.
• Chief Financial Officer David A. Ebersman sold 23,400 shares for $56.89, generating $1.33 million from the sale.

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

2. Cheniere Energy, Inc. (LNG): $43.75

Shares of this natural gas storage and pipeline company were sold by 4 insiders:

• Chairman, CEO & President Charif Souki sold 300,000 shares for $43.81, generating $13.14 million from the sale.
• Sr. VP – Marketing Meg Gentle sold 240,000 shares for $41.17, generating $9.88 million from the sale.
• Sr. VP – International Jean Abiteboul sold 60,000 shares for $41.97, generating $2.52 million from the sale.
• Director Vicky A. Bailey sold 2,150 shares for $42.85, generating $92,120 from the sale.

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

3. United Therapeutics Corporation (UTHR): $113.57

CEO Martine A. Rothblatt sold 76,426 shares of this biotech company for $112.24, generating $8.58 million from the sale. 3,833 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.

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

4. SL Green Realty Corp. (SLG): $92.05

Chief Executive Officer Marc Holliday sold 89,119 shares of this office REIT for $92.37, generating $8.23 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for SL Green Realty Corp. here.

5. G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. (GIII): $73.37

Chief Executive Officer Morris Goldfarb sold 102,915 shares of this apparel manufacturer for $70.29, generating $7.23 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. here.

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

Connect with me on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/asifsuria