Insider Trading 14 February 2014: Bill Gates Again Selling Microsoft

by Asif Suria

Welcome to edition 191 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying decreased last week with insiders purchasing $51.82 million of their stock compared to $151.76 million in the week prior. Selling increased with insiders selling $1.68 billion of stock last week compared to $1.37 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 32.52. In other words, insiders sold more than 32 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 9.04.

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 February 14, 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:

Some of the insider purchases that did not make the top 5 list but are worth exploring include a $1 million purchase of Bally Technologies (BYI) by its CEO, a cluster purchase by the insiders of Teradata (TDC) and a purchase by the CFO of Potlach (PCH).

1. El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (EPB): $30.99

Chairman and CEO Richard D. Kinder acquired 100,000 shares of this natural gas pipeline company, paying $30.04 per share for a total amount of $3 million. Mr. Kinder increased his stake by 357.14% to 128,000 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. here.

2. Murphy Oil Corporation (MUR): $60.06

Director Claiborne P. Deming acquired 30,000 shares of this oil exploration & production company, paying $56.67 per share for a total amount of $1.7 million. Mr. Deming increased his stake by 1.89% to 1,619,538 shares with this purchase. 15,000 of these shares were acquired indirectly through trusts.

Mr. Deming was the CEO of Murphy Oil from 1994 to 2008.

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

3. Calamos Asset Management Inc. (CLMS): $11.55

Chairman, CEO, Global Co-CIO John P. Calamos Sr. acquired 115,447 shares of this asset management company, paying $11.48 per share for a total amount of $1.33 million. Mr. Calamos increased his stake by 5.37% to 2,264,210 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Calamos Asset Management Inc. here.

4. CONSOL Energy Inc. (CNX): $38.43

Shares of this coal and natural gas company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Director Alvin R. Carpenter acquired 30,000 shares, paying $36.71 per share for a total amount of $1.1 million. Mr. Carpenter increased his stake by 654.45% to 34,584 shares with this purchase.
• EVP & Chief Financial Officer David M. Khani acquired 2,800 shares, paying $36.67 per share for a total amount of $102,676. Mr. Khani increased his stake by 6.90% to 43,354 shares with this purchase.

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

5. Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (IDTI): $11.79

President & CEO Gregory L. Waters acquired 100,000 shares of this semiconductor company, paying $10.52 per share for a total amount of $1.05 million.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Integrated Device Technology, Inc. here.

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): $37.62

Director Bill Gates sold 1,633,000 shares of Microsoft for $37.49, generating $61.23 million from the sale.

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

2. Pandora Media, Inc. (P): $36.14

Shares of Pandora were sold by 4 insiders:

• Director Peter Chernin sold 284,408 shares for $34.80, generating $9.89 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by the Chernin Group.
• Chief Financial Officer Michael S. Herring sold 174,175 shares for $33.90, generating $5.9 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Director Peter C. Gotcher sold 145,000 shares for $34.05, generating $4,937,866 from the sale. 100,000 of these shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.
• Chief Revenue Officer John Trimble sold 40,000 shares for $33.80, generating $1,352,056 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 Pandora Media, Inc. here.

3. Facebook, Inc. (FB): $67.09

Shares of Facebook were sold by 3 insiders:

• Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg sold 283,334 shares for $64.61, generating $18.31 million from the sale.
• Chief Accounting Officer Jas Athwal sold 28,000 shares for $63.76, generating $1.79 million from the sale.
• Chief Technology Officer Michael Todd Schroepfer sold 25,000 shares for $64.28, generating $1.61 million from the sale.

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

4. Mid-America Apartment Communities Inc. (MAA): $67.64

Shares of this apartment REIT were sold by 3 insiders:

• Director Thomas H. Lowder sold 140,000 shares for $67.18, generating $9.4 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by JKL Capital Holdings, LLC.
• Director James K. Lowder sold 70,000 shares for $67.14, generating $4.69 million from the sale.
• EVP, Development and Capital Projects Edward Thomas Wright sold 6,752 shares for $67.40, generating $455,097 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 Mid-America Apartment Communities Inc. here.

5. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (PANW): $72.8

Shares of this network security company were sold by 3 insiders:

• VP, Engineering Rajiv Batra sold 100,000 shares for $72.55, generating $7.26 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through trusts.
• Chief Marketing Officer Rene Bonvanie sold 50,000 shares for $67.00, generating $3.35 million from the sale.
• Director Asheem Chandna sold 26,250 shares for $66.42, generating $1.74 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through trusts.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Palo Alto Networks, Inc. here.

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