5 Noteworthy Insider Transactions Filed on Friday Amid Slowing Insider Trading Activity

Medical-Device Company Registers Insider Selling Shortly After Acquisition Announcement

Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT) has seen two executives unload shares this month, with one of them selling freshly-exercised stock options, which we don’t cover. The other trade involved Carol A. Surface, Chief Human Resources Officer and Senior Vice President, who sold 9,787 shares on Wednesday at prices between $87.01 and $87.19 per share. Following the recent sale, Ms. Surface currently owns 59,784 shares.

The medical-device company has seen the value of its shares gain 14% since the beginning of 2016. In late June, Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT) inked an agreement to acquire HeartWare International Inc. (NASDAQ:HTWR) for $1.1 billion, a deal that will add more heart-treatment products to the medical-device maker’s existing portfolio. The acquirer will pay $58 per HeartWare share in cash, a 93% premium over the stock’s closing price before the announcement. The freshly-acquired company develops the HVAD heart pump, a mechanical pump implanted in individuals suffering from advanced heart failure. Adage Capital Management, run by Phillip Gross and Robert Atchinson, reported ownership of 1.99 million shares of Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT) in its latest 13F.

Leading Business Process Services Company Registers Insider Selling Ahead of M&A Announcement

SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE:SNX) has witnessed increased insider selling as of late, though most selling was related to freshly-exercised stock options. However, Peter Larocque, President of North American Technology Solutions, discarded 7,000 shares on Friday at prices that fell between $93.84 and $94.65 per share, cutting his ownership to 18,241 shares. Mr. Larocque also sold 996 freshly-vested stock options a few days earlier.

Earlier today, the business process services company announced that it had agreed to acquire global outsourcing business solutions company Minacs for $420 million. The company will be integrated into the target’s Concentrix business segment, which provides a range of strategic services and solutions to enhance clients’ customer life cycles and to acquire, support and renew customer relationships, among other things. The transaction is anticipated to close in the third quarter of 2016. SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE:SNX) has seen the value of its stock appreciate by 6% so far in 2016. Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management owns nearly 306,000 shares of SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE:SNX) as of the end of the first quarter.

The Selling Spree by This Engineering Consulting Firm’s CEO Continues

Exponent Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO)’s President and CEO, Paul R. Johnston, keeps selling shares, which should not go unnoticed. Mr. Johnston sold 5,578 shares on Friday at a price tag of $58.15 each, cutting his ownership to 64,458 shares.

The shares of the engineering and scientific consulting firm are currently trading near their 52-week high of $59.05, after having advanced by 17% year-to-date. Just recently, analysts at Avondale Partners started coverage on Exponent Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) with a ‘Market Perform’ rating and a price target of $60, which implies an upside of less than 2%. The company pays shareholders a quarterly cash dividend of $0.18 per share, which equates to an annual dividend yield of 1.22%. The engineering consulting firm enjoyed strong demand for its consulting services during the first quarter of 2016, with its first-quarter bottom line increasing to $15.35 million from $10.33 million reported for the same period of the prior year. Royce & Associates, founded by Chuck Royce, owned 504,334 shares of Exponent Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) on March 31.

Disclosure: None