Which stocks are getting attention from insiders?
Below are lists of the top 10 mainly open-market insider purchases and sales filed at the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday, April 26, 2012 as ranked by dollar value.
Company executives and directors are in the best position to assess the attractiveness of their firms' shares, and here is how many of them are voting their wallets!
Please note, however, that these are factual lists, not buy and sell recommendations. Dollar value is only one metric to assess the importance of an insider transaction, and further analysis of a stock's full insider history may not indicate a significant insider signal.
But at Insider Insights, we find significant insider signals just about every day using screens like these to determine where we should focus are subsequent fundamental and technical analysis. And while stocks don't (and shouldn't) move up or down based on insider activity alone, insiders tend to be good indicators of when real stock-moving events like earnings surprises, corporate actions, and new products may be in the offing.
On today's tables, the selling activity again looks less ominous than the dollar values of those transactions may imply. The continued selling by Paulson & Co of their stake in Delphi Automotive (DLPH) certainly isn't a bullish signal, but insiders selling as their stocks hit new highs is one of the most common patterns we see on a daily basis. More often than not such insider behavior has little value for forecasting.
Director Daniel McCranie seems to think the gap down in Freescale Semiconductor (FSL) is a buying opportunity. He chose this bout of weakness to make his first open-market purchase of FSL since he joined the board in May 2011. His is just one opinion, however, and his purchase looks pretty lonely amidst recent option-related insider sales. It will be instructive to see if other insiders also buy the gap in FSL, producing a buying cluster that relays a more unanimous bullish opinion.
These aren't the only insights you can garner from today's tables, though. So use these regular columns as the initial research tools they are meant to be, and come to InsiderInsights.com to analyze a company's or insider's full insider history. Also feel free to email with any questions on our proprietary insider data, and how it is best analyzed.
Analyst Note: We are currently in a slower filing period for Form 4sand since many firms have the trading windows closed to their insiders until March quarter earnings are released. So the dollar values of the Top 10 transactions are smaller than usual. If past is prolog, the volume of insider filings will pick up again in earnest during the first week of May.
| #: | Filer Name | Insider Titles | Company Name | Ticker | Trans Type | Dollar Value | Shares Traded | Trans Date To | Ave Trans Price | Direct Holdings | Indirect Holdings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tl Investment Gmbh | BO | Lantronix | LTRX | JB* | $4,500,000 | 1,605,709 | 4/25/12 | $2.80 | 5,878,396 | --- |
| 2 | Adage Capital | BO | Puma Biotechnology | PBYI | B | $4,194,000 | 300,000 | 4/25/12 | $13.98 | --- | 3,300,000 |
| 3 | Akradi Bahram | CB,PR,CEO | Life Time Fitness | LTM | B | $745,008 | 16,905 | 4/24/12 | $44.07 | 2,398,296 | --- |
| 4 | Barton Richard N | DIR | Netflix | NFLX | B | $510,300 | 6,000 | 4/25/12 | $85.05 | 6,343 | --- |
| 5 | McCranie J Daniel | DIR | Freescale Semiconductor | FSL | B | $499,938 | 40,300 | 4/25/12 | $12.24 | 52,829 | --- |
| 6 | Simmons Harold C | CB,DIR,BO | Valhi | VHI | B | $188,938 | 3,556 | 4/26/12 | $53.25 | 449,120 | --- |
| 7 | Wilkins James R Jr | DIR | Eagle Financial | EFSI | B | $159,600 | 7,600 | 4/25/12 | $21.00 | 119,234 | --- |
| 8 | Dahl James H | BO | Pope Resources | POPE | B | $89,691 | 2,000 | 4/24/12 | $44.85 | --- | 125,084 |
| 9 | Marchionne Sergio | DIR | Philip Morris International | PM | B | $86,830 | 1,000 | 4/24/12 | $86.83 | 37,971 | --- |
| 10 | Sheridan Stanley Michael | DIR | National Beverage | FIZZ | B | $83,880 | 6,000 | 4/24/12 | $13.98 | --- | 32,704 |
Source: InsiderInsights.com | Key to Insider Title and Transaction Type Codes
| #: | Filer Name | Insider Titles | Company Name | Ticker | Trans Type | Dollar Value | Shares Traded | Trans Date To | Ave Trans Price | Direct Holdings | Indirect Holdings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gates William H III | DIR | Microsoft | MSFT | AS | $112,004,896 | 3,500,000 | 4/24/12 | $32.00 | 495,481,728 | --- |
| 2 | Paulson & Co | BO | Delphi Automotive | DLPH | S | $75,599,352 | 2,453,000 | 4/26/12 | $30.70 | 614,057 | 1,202,212 |
| 3 | Schwab Charles R | CB,DIR,BO | Schwab Charles | SCHW | S | $31,163,450 | 2,250,000 | 4/25/12 | $13.93 | --- | 127,518,520 |
| 4 | Foster Paul L | CB,DIR,BO | Western Refining | WNR | AS | $5,485,945 | 300,000 | 4/25/12 | $18.13 | 6,100,545 | 16,804,580 |
| 5 | Barnello Michael D | PR,CEO,DIR | Lasalle Hotel Properties | LHO | S | $3,659,133 | 125,914 | 4/25/12 | $29.07 | 198,484 | --- |
| 6 | Taylor Anthony | DIR | Montpelier Re Holdings | MRH | S | $2,059,340 | 100,000 | 4/26/12 | $20.59 | 1,074,189 | --- |
| 7 | Gull Holdings | BO | Usana Health Sciences | USNA | S | $2,040,500 | 50,000 | 4/26/12 | $40.81 | 7,400,040 | --- |
| 8 | Prezzano Wilbur J | DIR | Roper Industries | ROP | S | $1,401,648 | 14,000 | 4/25/12 | $100.20 | 22,000 | --- |
| 9 | Parker Jefferson G | VCB | Iberiabank | IBKC | S | $728,480 | 14,249 | 4/25/12 | $51.12 | 31,728 | --- |
| 10 | White J Scott | VP | Abbott Laboratories | ABT | AS | $689,866 | 11,368 | 4/24/12 | $60.70 | 71,666 | --- |
Source: InsiderInsights.com | Key to Insider Title and Transaction Type Codes
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.
