Insider Trading 03 January 2014: Monster Beverage Selling

by Asif Suria

Insider buying increased with insiders purchasing $9.42 million of their stock last week compared to $4.87 million in the week prior. Selling decreased with insiders selling $425.98 million of stock last week compared to $2.81 billion in the week prior.

In addition to tallying up the insider purchases and sales from the last week, I figured I would also calculate the sum of all insider purchases and sales for 2013 and see how it compares with insider activity in 2012. As a group, insiders purchased $3.69 billion of stock in 2013, which was up slightly considering insiders bought $3.64 billion worth of stock in 2012. Selling on the other hand increased 24% to $80.67 billion in 2013 when compared to $65.03 billion in 2012.

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 45.23. In other words, insiders sold more than 45 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at a record 576.9. 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 January 3, 2014

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

CEO & Chairman Phillip Frost M.D. acquired 191,500 shares of this medical devices and drug development company, paying $8.48 per share for a total amount of $1.62 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.

2. BioTime, Inc. (BTX): $3.67

Director Neal C. Bradsher acquired 300,042 shares of this biotech company, paying $3.51 per share for a total amount of $1.05 million. Mr. Bradsher increased his stake by 3.33% to 9,322,262 shares with this purchase.

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

3. Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust, Inc. (WHLR): $4.38

CEO & Chairman Jon S. Wheeler acquired 235,000 shares of this retail REIT, paying $4.18 per share for a total amount of $982,300. Mr. Wheeler increased his stake by 55.01% to 662,200 shares with this purchase.

This does not appear to be an open market purchase as the stock only traded 16,800 shares on December 31, 2013, the date of the purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust, Inc. here.

4. SP Plus Corporation (SP): $25.93

Director Myron C. Warshauer acquired 11,250 shares of this parking management company, paying $26.68 per share for a total amount of $300,179. Mr. Warshauer increased his stake by 433.36% to 13,846 shares with this purchase.

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

5. CEL-SCI Corporation (CVM): $0.65

CEO Geert R. Kersten acquired 300,000 shares of this biotech company, paying $0.60 per share for a total amount of $180,000. Mr. Kersten increased his stake by 70.55% to 725,227 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for CEL-SCI Corporation here.

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Monster Beverage Corporation (MNST): $67.52

Shares of this beverages company were sold by 2 insiders:

• Vice Chairman and President Hilton H. Schlosberg sold 200,000 shares for $67.40, generating $13.48 million from the sale.
• Chairman and CEO Rodney C. Sacks sold 200,000 shares for $67.39, generating $13.48 million from the sale.

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

2. Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (FNF): $32.42

Director William P. Foley II sold 400,000 shares of this insurance company for $32.67, generating $13.07 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Fidelity National Financial, Inc. here.

3. FleetCor Technologies, Inc. (FLT): $116.62

President, Developing Markets Charles Richard Freund sold 75,000 shares of this payment products and services company for $114.13, generating $8.56 million from the sale.

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

4. Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp. (KOG): $10.73

Shares of this natural gas and oil exploration company were sold by 3 insiders:

• Chairman, President and CEO Lynn A. Peterson sold 499,190 shares for $11.28, generating $5.63 million from the sale. 41,115 of these shares were sold for tax withholding purposes.
• CFO/Secretary/Treasurer James P. Henderson sold 100,000 shares for $11.25, generating $1.12 million from the sale. 11,911 of these shares were sold for tax withholding purposes.
• Executive VP – Exploration Russ D. Cunningham sold 26,475 shares for $11.26, generating $298,161 from the sale. 10,908 of these shares were sold for tax withholding purposes.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp. here.

5. Groupon, Inc. (GRPN): $12.08

Shares of Groupon were sold by 2 insiders:

• Director Bradley A. Keywell sold 500,000 shares for $11.51, generating $5.76 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Rugger Ventures LLC, an entity owned by Kimberly Keywell (80%), the wife of Bradley A. Keywell, and Mr. Keywell’s children (20%).
• SVP – Product Management Jeffrey Holden sold 10,000 shares for $11.85, generating $118,500 from the sale.

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

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

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