Insider Weekends – April 29, 2011

Welcome to edition forty seven of Insider Weekends. Insider buying dropped with insiders purchasing just $4.14 million of their stock last week when compared to $23.45 million in the week prior. Selling also decreased with insiders selling $774.04 million worth of stock compared to $843.34 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 jumped up to 186.75. In other words, insiders sold more nearly 187 times as much stock as they purchased. This is the highest the ratio has been since last October. The big jump last October was attributed to insiders selling ahead of potentially higher capital gains tax in 2011 if the Bush tax cuts were allowed to expire by the end of 2010.

The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the week prior when the ratio stood at 35.96. 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 29, 2011

Note: As mentioned in the first post in this series Introduction to Insider Weekends, 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. Hasbro Inc. (HAS): $46.84

President and CEO Brian Goldner acquired 10,000 shares of this toys & games company, paying $44.85 per share for a total amount of $448,500. These shares were purchased indirectly by the Brian D. Goldner Trust.

Brian Goldner was promoted to the post of CEO in 2008 and was named CEO of the year by MarketWatch.com the same year.

This has been the only insider purchase over the last six months. All insider sales have been options related sales and some insiders exercised options without turning around and selling them immediately as you can see from this page.

2. Urstadt Biddle Properties Inc. (UBP): $16.99

President and COO Willing L. Biddle acquired 22,300 shares of this real estate investment trust (REIT), paying $17 per share for a total amount of $379,100. These shares were purchased indirectly through an IRA.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Urstadt Biddle Properties Inc. here.

3. Wells Fargo & Company (WFC): $29.11

Senior Executive VP & CFO Timothy J. Sloan acquired 10,000 shares of this bank, paying $28.54 per share for a total amount of $285,400. Mr. Sloan increased his stake by 16.92% to 69,093 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Wells Fargo & Company here.

4. Stag Industrial, Inc. Common St (STIR): $12.7

CFO, EVP and Treasurer Gregory W. Sullivan acquired 15,834 shares of this industrial REIT, paying $12.15 per share for a total amount of $192,330. Mr. Sullivan increased his stake by 82.34% to 35,064 shares with this purchase.

Stag Industrial went public on April 15 at $13/share, down from $16 mentioned in earlier filings. The company has a portfolio of 91 properties across 26 states with nearly 90% of those properties leased to 70 tenants. The company plans to pay out $1.024 in distributions this year, translating to a yield of 8.1% at current levels. The average dividend yield as of March 31, 2011 for industrial REITs was 3.17% and for mixed industrial/office REITs was 5.15%. You can find the raw data for performance and yields of REITs by sector here.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Stag Industrial, Inc. Common St here.

5. USG Corporation (USG): $15.42

Shares of this building materials company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Director Richard P. Lavin acquired 6,700 shares, paying $15.01 per share for a total amount of $100,559.
• Director Brian A. Kenney acquired 3,000 shares, paying $15.30 per share for a total amount of $45,900.

Mr. Lavin, who is the Group President of Caterpillar (CAT) has been a director of USG since November 2009 but this is his first purchase of USG stock. The stock lost a lot of ground over the last year as it continued to report a string of losses and negative operating cash flows. Operating cash flows finally turned positive in Q4 2010 but that was largely driven by a change in accounts receivables.

It is possible Mr. Lavin sees a turnaround that is not yet evident in the numbers.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW): $18.31

Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 2 million shares of this investment brokerage for $18.47, generating $36.94 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by a Trust.

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

2. Complete Production Services, Inc. (CPX): $33.94

Director Harold Hamm sold 1,043,109 shares of this oil & gas equipment & services company for $34.01, generating $35.48 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through various trusts.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Complete Production Services, Inc. here.

3. Apollo Group Inc. (APOL): $40.03

Shares of this for-profit education company were sold by 3 insiders:

• Exec Chairman of the Board John G. Sperling sold 475,000 shares for $39.82, generating $18.9 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by the John Sperling Revocable Trust.
• Vice Chairman of the Board Peter V. Sperling sold 50,000 shares for $40.37, generating $2.02 million from the sale.
• Director K. Sue Redman sold 2,000 shares for $40.52, generating $81,040 from the sale.

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

4. Apple Inc. (AAPL): $350.13

Shares of Apple were sold by 3 insiders:

• Senior Vice President Robert J. Mansfield sold 38,863 shares for $351.89, generating $13.68 million from the sale.
• VP, Corporate Controller Betsy Rafael sold 2,956 shares for $351.92, generating $1.04 million from the sale.
• SVP, Gen'l Counsel, Secretary D Bruce Sewell sold 92 shares for $346.91, generating $31,916 from the sale.

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

5. Abbott Laboratories (ABT): $52.04

Shares of this drug manufacturer were sold by 4 insiders:

• Chairman and CEO Miles D. White sold 200,000 shares for $51.15, generating $10.23 million from the sale.
• Vice President Greg W. Linder sold 30,000 shares for $51.27, generating $1.54 million from the sale.
• Senior Vice President Heather L. Mason sold 10,640 shares for $52.25, generating $555,940 from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Director Roxanne S. Austin sold 6,668 shares for $51.36, generating $342,496 from the sale. 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 Abbott Laboratories here.

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