Insider Trading 20 February 2015: GE Buying and Twitter Selling

by Asif Suria

Insider buying decreased last week with insiders buying $56.56 million of stock compared to $101.2 million in the week prior. Selling increased with insiders selling $1.59 billion of stock last week compared to $1.38 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 went up to 28.27. In other words, insiders sold more than 28 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 13.67.

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 20, 2015

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. General Electric Company (GE): $25.21

Director William G. Beattie acquired 800,000 shares of General Electric, paying $25.12 per share for a total amount of $20.09 million. These shares were acquired indirectly by an investment company.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for General Electric Company here.

2. Air Products & Chemicals Inc. (APD): $157.66

Chairman, President and CEO Seifi Ghasemi acquired 27,000 shares of this supplier of industrial gases and performance material, paying $153.27 per share for a total amount of $4.14 million. Mr. Ghasemi increased his stake by 18.99% to 169,171 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Air Products & Chemicals Inc. here.

3. MedAssets, Inc. (MDAS): $19.73

Chairman and CEO R. Halsey Wise acquired 110,300 shares of this healthcare information services company, paying $18.15 per share for a total amount of $2 million. Mr. Wise increased his stake by 729.06% to 125,429 shares with this purchase.

The stock fell sharply and hit a fresh 52 week low last week after the company reported fourth quarter results that beat expectations on the top line with double-digit revenue growth but the forecast for 2015 disappointed investors. Net loss of $42.4 million in the fourth quarter was primarily on account of a large goodwill write down and adjusted EBITDA rose 20.4% year-over-year to $63.5 million. For 2015, the company expects revenue to increase between 4.6% and 6.5% to a range of $753 to $767 million and GAAP earnings of 26 to 36 cents per share. The company is guiding towards an adjusted EBITDA number of $1.13 to $1.23 per share for 2015.

The large discrepancy between the GAAP earnings and adjusted EBITDA number is mostly on account of interest payments on the substantial debt the company carries on its balance sheet and even larger depreciation expenses.

Investor enthusiasm was rekindled following this purchase and they bid the stock up 8.5% on nearly 5 times average daily volume on Friday.

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

4. The Madison Square Garden Company (MSG): $78.53

Director Nelson Peltz acquired 12,800 shares of this sports entertainment and media company, paying $77.98 per share for a total amount of $998,172.

Mr. Peltz is a co-founder of activist hedge fund Trian Fund Management and is estimated to have a net worth of $1.94 billion.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for The Madison Square Garden Company here.

5. CARBO Ceramics Inc. (CRR): $36.95

Director William C. Morris acquired 19,861 shares of this oilfield services technology company, paying $38.77 per share for a total amount of $770,074. These shares were purchased indirectly by Mr. Morris’s wife.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for CARBO Ceramics Inc. here.

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Twitter, Inc. (TWTR): $49.11

Shares of Twitter were sold by 2 insiders:

• Director Evan Clark Williams sold 852,000 shares for $48.02, generating $40.91 million from the sale. 800,880 of these shares were sold indirectly through various entities.
• Vice President of Product Kevin Weil sold 5,169 shares for $48.06, generating $248,440 from the sale.

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

Voluntary Disclosure: I hold a long position in Twitter (TWTR)

2. The Blackstone Group L.P. (BX): $37.63

Vice Chairman J. Tomilson Hill sold 443,240 shares of this asset management company for $36.34, generating $16.11 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for The Blackstone Group L.P. here.

3. Global Eagle Entertainment Inc. (ENT): $13.31

Director Jeffrey Sagansky sold 800,000 shares of this in-flight Wi-Fi and entertainment provider for $13.10, generating $10.48 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Global Eagle Entertainment Inc. here.

4. NetSuite Inc. (N): $100.91

Shares of this cloud enterprise software company were sold by 4 insiders:

• CTO & Chairman of the Board Evan Goldberg sold 45,250 shares for $98.95, generating $4.48 million from the sale. 20,000 of these shares were sold indirectly through a trust
• Chief Financial Officer Ronald S. Gill sold 18,392 shares for $98.22, generating $1.81 million from the sale.
• President WW Sales & Distribution Marc Huffman sold 18,123 shares for $98.22, generating $1.78 million from the sale.
• EVP & Chief Customer Officer Timothy Dilley sold 10,128 shares for $98.21, generating $994,656 from the sale.

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

5. Flowserve Corp. (FLS): $62.55

Shares of this industrial flow management equipment company were sold by 3 insiders:

• President & CEO Mark A. Blinn sold 69,000 shares for $62.48, generating $4.31 million from the sale.
• SVP, Chief Operating Officer Thomas L. Pajonas sold 40,000 shares for $62.48, generating $2.49 million from the sale.
• SVP and CFO Michael S. Taff sold 30,000 shares for $62.48, generating $1.87 million from the sale.

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

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

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