Prospect Capital, Regeneron Lead List Of Key Insider Trades

Often times, corporate insiders, those who hold high positions in a company and/or own a significant amount of shares, have access to information that the public doesn’t, which makes their activity more telling of a stock’s behavior. Earnings reports, taxes, and acquisitions marked notable insider activity of last week.

Most Notable Buys

On February 17, CEO John Barry purchased 1,109,000 shares of Prospect Capital Corporation PSEC for a total of $7,439,646. One day prior, he purchased 1,115,000 shares of the company for a total of $7,091,400. In its recent Q2:2016 earnings report, the company improved its yields across its investments by 1% y/y and 0.3% q/q through changes it has made to its portfolio, such as strict credit selection and diverse origination. Since February 9, the day the company released its Q2 earnings, the stock climbed close to 30%.

Sanofi, 22% owner of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc REGN and its partner in developing the PD 1 inhibitor, as well as other projects, purchased 161,157 shares of the company worth $63.2 million in a series of purchases between February 16 and February 17. Earlier this month, Sanofi and Regeneron announced positive Phase 2 data for its study of dupilumab, use to treat chronic sinusitis.

Between February 12 and February 18, (filed between February 16 and 19) CEO Phillip Frost purchased 11K; 15K; 2K; and 13K shares of Opko Health Inc. OPK for $86,695; $118,728; $16,030; and $113, 649, respectively.

On February 12, the company announced that it acquired a 6.4% stake in Xenetic, a biotech company specializing in oncology therapeutics.

Most Notable Sells

On February 16, filed February 17, Director Jan Koum sold 647,057 shares of Facebook Inc FB valued at ~$65,866,328. Koum’s transaction mirrors those of several other Facebook insiders in the same time period for tax incentives.

In two separate transactions dated February 17 and February 18, Philip Morris International Inc. PM CEO Andre Calantzopoulos sold 3,298 and 30,000 shares, respectively, for $3,033,319 according to a SEC filing dated February 19. Earlier this month, the company released its 4Q:2015 earnings with diluted EPS falling 21.4% to $0.81 per share. Some factors that negatively impacted earnings included the strength of the U.S dollar versus other currencies, international operating incomes decline, and higher costs in its EU and Asia regions.