Insider Trading 14 March 2014: Facebook Selling Again

by Asif Suria

Insider buying declined sharply last week with insiders purchasing $37.85 million of their stock compared to $81.57 million in the week prior. Selling increased with insiders selling $2.62 billion of stock last week compared to $2.6 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 jumped to 69.3. In other words, insiders sold more than 69 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 31.88.

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 March 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 additional purchases by a director of Liquidity Services (LQDT), a 100,000 share purchase by the CFO of Radioshack (RSH) and additional purchases by a director of textbook rental company Chegg (CHGG).

1. Office Depot, Inc. (ODP): $4.56

Shares of this office products retail chain were acquired by 5 insiders:

• Director Jeffrey C. Smith acquired 2,873,913 shares, paying $4.59 per share for a total amount of $13.2 million. These shares were acquired indirectly through the Starboard Value and Opportunity fund and managed accounts.
• Chairman & CEO Roland Smith acquired 50,000 shares, paying $4.61 per share for a total amount of $230,645. Mr. Smith increased his stake by 4.17% to 1,249,616 shares with this purchase.
• Director Joseph Vassalluzzo acquired 15,000 shares, paying $4.58 per share for a total amount of $68,700. Mr. Vassalluzzo increased his stake by 33.31% to 60,034 shares with this purchase.
• Director Nigel Travis acquired 10,870 shares, paying $4.61 per share for a total amount of $50,097. Mr. Travis increased his stake by 7.31% to 159,584 shares with this purchase.
• Director Warren F. Bryant acquired 6,000 shares, paying $4.66 per share for a total amount of $27,953. Mr. Bryant increased his stake by 2.82% to 218,831 shares with this purchase.

Despite its merger with OfficeMax last year, Office Depot continues to face headwinds in an industry dominated by Amazon.com. Whether this purchase signals a bottom and a potential turnaround or the company remains a value trap remains to be seen. Investor might be encouraged to see the activist hedge fund Starboard Value increase its stake in the company.

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

2. Calamos Asset Management Inc. (CLMS): $12.64

Chairman, CEO & Global Co-CIO John P. Calamos acquired 225,004 shares of this asset management company, paying $12.72 per share for a total amount of $2.86 million. Mr. Calamos increased his stake by 8.37% to 2,913,843 shares with this purchase.

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

3. NuStar GP Holdings, LLC (NSH): $32.96

Director William E. Greehey acquired 63,900 shares of this oil & gas pipeline company, paying $31.86 per share for a total amount of $2.04 million. Mr. Greehey increased his stake by 0.79% to 8,132,098 shares with this purchase.

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

4. NuStar Energy L.P. (NS): $53.89

Director William E. Greehey acquired 35,700 shares of this oil & gas pipeline company, paying $51.69 per share for a total amount of $1.84 million. Mr. Greehey increased his stake by 1.53% to 2,365,279 shares with this purchase.

It is interesting to see Mr. Greehey acquire shares of both the limited partner and general partner of NuStar Energy.

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

5. Keurig Green Mountain, Inc. (GMCR): $113.25

Shares of this specialty coffee company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Director Norman H. Wesley acquired 11,000 shares, paying $105.06 per share for a total amount of $1.16 million. Mr. Wesley increased his stake by 108.23% to 21,164 shares with this purchase. 5,000 of these shares were acquired indirectly through a trust.
• Director A. D. Mackay acquired 4,000 shares, paying $105.94 per share for a total amount of $423,746. Mr. Mackay increased his stake by 15.31% to 30,135 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Keurig Green Mountain, Inc. here.

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Facebook, Inc. (FB): $67.72

Shares of Facebook were sold by 3 insiders:

• Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg sold 283,334 shares for $71.69, generating $20.31 million from the sale.
• VP Marketing & Business Partnerships David B. Fischer sold 36,000 shares for $70.56, generating $2.54 million from the sale.
• Chief Technology Officer Michael Todd Schroepfer sold 25,000 shares for $70.75, generating $1.77 million from the sale.

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

2. Express Scripts Holding Company (ESRX): $77.36

Shares of this pharmacy benefit management (PBM) services provider were sold by 7 insiders:

• Executive VP, Sales and Marketing Edward B. Ignaczak sold 120,247 shares for $78.54, generating $9.44 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Executive VP and COO Patrick McNamee sold 68,425 shares for $78.28, generating $5.36 million from the sale. 27,981 of these shares were sold indirectly through Mr. McNamee’s spouse’s trust.
• Senior VP, Clin. Res. & New Sol. Glen D. Stettin sold 43,767 shares for $78.22, generating $3.42 million from the sale. 37,431 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Executive VP and Gen. Counsel Keith J. Ebling sold 25,721 shares for $78.69, generating $2.02 million from the sale. 9,582 of these shares were sold indirectly through Mr. McNamee’s spouse’s trust.
• Senior Vice President, Operations Christine Houston sold 19,757 shares for $78.53, generating $1.55 million from the sale. 15,674 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Senior VP & Chief Med. Officer Steven B. Miller sold 12,664 shares for $77.96, generating $987,298 from the sale.
• Senior VP, Supply Chain David A. Norton sold 3,160 shares for $79.15, generating $250,123 from the sale. Half of these shares were sold by Mr. Norton’s wife and the other half were sold through a trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Express Scripts Holding Company here.

3. CoStar Group Inc. (CSGP): $207.35

Shares of this provider of business services to the commercial real estate industry were sold by 3 insiders:

• President and CEO Andrew C. Florance sold 50,000 shares for $210.04, generating $10.5 million from the sale.
• Sr. VP-Sales, Customer Service John L. Stanfill sold 25,915 shares for $208.55, generating $5.4 million from the sale. 8,785 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Chief Financial Officer Brian J. Radecki sold 21,266 shares for $208.83, generating $4.44 million from the sale. 10,674 of 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 CoStar Group Inc. here.

4. Splunk, Inc. (SPLK): $84.57

Shares of this big data company were sold by 7 insiders:

• SVP, Products Guido Schroeder sold 101,352 shares for $85.20, generating $8.64 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• President, CEO & Chairman Godfrey Sullivan sold 50,000 shares for $85.68, generating $4.28 million from the sale. 10,000 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• SVP & Chief Financial Officer David F. Conte sold 25,416 shares for $85.26, generating $2.17 million from the sale. 22,916 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• SVP, Field Operations Thomas E. Schodorf sold 9,420 shares for $90.40, generating $851,588 from the sale. 4,000 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• SVP & Chief Marketing Officer Steven R. Sommer sold 1,922 shares for $85.76, generating $164,832 from the sale.
• Director Thomas M. Neustaetter sold 1,500 shares for $86.23, generating $129,341 from the sale.
• SVP, General Counsel & Sec. Leonard R. Stein sold 1,352 shares for $85.82, generating $116,033 from the sale.

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

5. Kirby Corporation (KEX): $101.72

Shares of this tank barge operator were sold by 2 insiders:

• Director William M. Waterman sold 132,987 shares for $103.95, generating $13.82 million from the sale.
• Director William M. Lamont sold 5,000 shares for $106.05, generating $530,250 from the sale.

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

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

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