As we continue to track insider transactions, I stumbled upon three more interesting purchases (check out some small-caps that insiders love). Over the past week, insiders at Aon Plc (NYSE:AON), Platform Specialty Products Corp (NYSE:PAH) and State Auto Financial Corp (NASDAQ:STFC) spent millions of dollars in their stock. So, let’s take a closer look at these transactions:
Aon Plc (NYSE:AON) is the largest company in this list, with $26.06 billion in market cap. This provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resource consulting and outsourcing saw Board Director Lester Knight acquire 60,000 Class A Ordinary Shares, for an average price of $90.44 each. After spending more than $5.42 million in stock, Mr. Knight owns 257,282 shares of the company, through diverse indirect holdings.
In addition to this director, several institutional investors seem bullish on Aon Plc (NYSE:AON). Among them is Boykin Curry’s Eagle Capital Management, and Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick’s First Pacific Advisors. Both funds boosted their exposure to the company by 1% over the third quarter, and now own 14.68 million shares (worth about $1.28 billion) and 6.65 million shares ($583 million), respectively.
Platform Specialty Products Corp (NYSE:PAH) is a $4.73 billion market cap producer of high technology specialty chemical products and provider of post-sale technical services that witnessed several purchases last week. Between November 19 and November 20, Stanley E Oneal, Board Director bought about 77,601 shares of Common Stock, for an average weighted price of $26.00 per share. Following this $2.01 million purchase, Mr. Oneal directly owns 272,698 shares of the company.
Even more confident on Platform Specialty Products Corp (NYSE:PAH)’s future is Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square. The company is amongst the fund’s seven stock picks for third quarter. At the beginning of October, the fund disclosed an increase in its stake in the company from 33.33 million shares, to 42.73 million shares. This stake has an activist nature and accounts for approximately 26.1% of the company’s stock.
State Auto Financial Corp (NASDAQ:STFC) is the small-cap company that made it to this list. The property and casualty insurance holding company saw one of its largest shareholders, State Automobile Mutual Insurance Company, acquire 31,869 Common Shares for an average price of $20.48 per share, between November 17 and November 21, inclusive. Following these purchases, State Automobile Mutual Insurance Company owns about 25.6 million shares of State Auto Financial Corp (NASDAQ:STFC).
State Automobile Mutual Insurance Company has been quite active in State Auto Financial Corp (NASDAQ:STFC) this year. As we reported, the insider acquired the company’s stock in June, and continued to do so over July. Robert Jaffe’s Force Capital has also been boosting its exposure to the company. Over the third quarter, the fund increased its stake by 6%, to 507,094 shares.
Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any stocks or funds mentioned
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