Insider Trading 18 July 2014: Rex American, Salesforce Selling

by Asif Suria

Insider buying declined significantly last week with insiders buying $8.35 million of stock compared to $36.57 million in the week prior. Selling on the other hand increased with insiders selling $492.89 million of stock last week compared to $292.66 million in the week prior. With the start of earnings season, insider transactions are likely to be muted for a couple of weeks.

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 went up to 59.03.In other words, insiders sold more than 59 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 8.66.

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 July 18, 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. Frank’s International N.V. (FI): $23.03

Chairman of Supervisory Board, Director, Chief Executive Officer and President, D. Keith Mosing acquired 112,889 shares of this provider of engineered tubular services to the energy industry, paying $22.92 per share for a total amount of $2.59 million. Mr. Mosing increased his direct stake by 99.88% to 225,915 shares with this purchase. 26,776 of these shares were purchased indirectly by Mr. Mosing’s child.

Mr. Mosing also controls an entity called FWW B.V. that owns 119.02 million shares of Frank’s International. In other words Mr. Mosing controls nearly 78% of the shares of the company.

Frank’s went public last August at $22 per share and after seeing a post-IPO run up to over $32/share, the stock dropped precipitously as the red-hot 44% revenue growth the company had experienced in 2012 fizzled out.

Trading at 7 times EBITDA, sporting operating margins of 30.51% and a very strong balance sheet with $427.5 million in net cash, the company is worth exploring further.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Frank’s International N.V. here.

2. Opko Health, Inc. (OPK): $8.62

CEO & Chairman Phillip Frost M.D. acquired 106,000 shares of this medical devices and drug development company, paying $8.73 per share for a total amount of $925,741. 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. Accelerate Diagnostics, Inc. (AXDX): $19.78

Director Jack W. Schuler acquired 20,000 shares of this medical instrumentation and diagnostics company, paying $19.89 per share for a total amount of $397,800. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.

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

4. Sunshine Bancorp, Inc. (SBCP): $11.93

Director Edward Verner acquired 14,107 shares of this regional bank, paying $12.19 per share for a total amount of $172,013. Mr. Verner increased his stake by 99.96% to 28,219 shares with this purchase. 12,151 of these shares were purchased through a Trust and an LLC.

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

5. American Homes 4 Rent (AMH): $18.49

Executive Vice President David Goldberg acquired 5,000 preferred shares of this residential REIT, paying $24.80 per share for a total amount of $124,000.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for American Homes 4 Rent here.

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. REX American Resources Corporation (REX): $84.58

Shares of this ethanol producer and real estate company were sold by 3 insiders:

• COB; CEO Stuart A. Rose sold 65,800 shares for $82.80, generating $5.45 million from the sale.
• COO; President Zafar A. Rizvi sold 10,000 shares for $83.00, generating $830,000 from the sale.
• CFO; VP-Finance; Treasurer Douglas Bruggeman sold 2,000 shares for $80.91, generating $161,821 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for REX American Resources Corporation here.

2. Salesforce.com, Inc (CRM): $53.5

Chairman of the Board & CEO Marc Benioff sold 100,000 shares of this Software as a Service (SaaS) providerfor $53.92, generating $5.39 million from the sale.

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

3. Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB): $304.1

Chief Executive Officer George A. Scangos sold 12,316 shares of this biotech company for $312.37, generating $3.85 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Biogen Idec Inc. here.

4. Targa Resources Corp. (TRGP): $138.35

Chief Executive Officer Joe Bob Perkins sold 25,000 shares of this natural gas production and pipeline company for $137.86, generating $3.45 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by the Perkins Blue House Investments Limited Partnership.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Targa Resources Corp. here.

5. Restoration Hardware Holdings, Inc. (RH): $85.27

Director Carlos Alberini sold 40,000 shares of this home furnishing company for $85.34, generating $3.41 millio from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Restoration Hardware Holdings, Inc. here.

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

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