Insider Weekends – April 26, 2013

Welcome to edition 150 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying increased with insiders purchasing $40.11 million of their stock last week compared to $35.53 million in the week prior. Selling also increased with insiders selling $1.11 billion of stock last week compared to $838.5 million 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 27.77. In other words, insiders sold almost 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 23.6. 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 April 26, 2013

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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM): $48.88

Director James S. Crown acquired 436,859 shares of JPMorgan, paying $46.98 per share for a total amount of $20.5 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through family funds.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for JPMorgan Chase & Co. here.

2. AGCO Corporation (AGCO): $50.67

Director Mallika Srinivasan acquired 91,440 shares of this farm & construction machinery company, paying $49.21 per share for a total amount of $4.5 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by TAFE Motors and Tractors Limited.

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

3. Opko Health, Inc. (OPK): $6.92

CEO & Chairman Phillip Frost M.D. acquired 100,000 shares of this medical devices and drug development company, paying $6.92 per share for a total amount of $692,447. These shares were purchased indirectly  by Frost Gamma Investments Trust.

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

4. Associated Banc-Corp (ASBC): $14.13

Director Robert A. Jeffe acquired 10,000 series B preferred shares of this regional bank, paying $28.75 per share for a total amount of $287,500. Mr. Jeffe increased his stake by 43.12% to 33,190 shares with this purchase.

With over $23 billion in assets, this regional bank trades for 1.22 times tangible book value. After seeing a large spike in its Troubled Assets Ratio (TAR) through the last recession, the company’s TAR of 11 is now inline with the national median TAR of 10.7.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Associated Banc-Corp here.

5. Winmark Corp. (WINA): $60.91

Chairman & CEO John L. Morgan acquired 4,100 shares of this retail franchise company, paying $59.70 per share for a total amount of $244,770. Mr. Morgan increased his stake by 0.24% to 1,683,278 shares with this purchase.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): $31.79

Shares of Microsoft were sold by 2 insiders:

• Founder Bill Gates sold 7,394,507 shares for $30.92, generating $228.6 million from the sale.
• Chief Accounting Officer Frank H. Brod sold 10,000 shares for $30.88, generating $308,779 from the sale.

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

2. Enstar Group Limited (ESGR): $126.5

Shares of this insurance company were sold by 2 insiders:

• Executive Vice President Paul James O’Shea sold 138,000 shares for $124.72, generating $17.2 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.
• Executive Vice President Nicholas Andrew Packer sold 100,000 shares for $124.70, generating $12.5 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Enstar Group Limited here.

3. Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (SIX): $73.32

Chairman, President & CEO James Reid-anderson sold 96,464 shares of this theme park operator for $75.13, generating $7.2 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Six Flags Entertainment Corporation here.

4. MSC Industrial Direct Co. Inc. (MSM): $78.33

Director Mitchell Jacobson sold 82,500 shares of this industrial products distributor for $78.04, generating $6.4 million from the sale. 41,250 of these shares were sold indirectly through a trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for MSC Industrial Direct Co. Inc. here.

5. Facebook, Inc. (FB): $26.85

Shares of Facebook were sold by 2 insiders:

• Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg sold 176,452 shares for $25.79, generating $4.6 million from the sale. 6,696 of these shares were sold indirectly through a trust.
• Chief Financial Officer David A. Ebersman sold 23,400 shares for $26.06, generating $609,804 from the sale.

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

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