CEO-CFO Duo at U.S. Building Supplier Sell Shares After Agreeing to be Acquired by Australia’s Boral, Plus Other Insider Trading Activity Amid Slowing Insider Buying

Major U.S. stock market gauges climbed again on Thursday and set fresh record highs, thanks to a month-long rally after the presidential election of Donald Trump. As corporate insiders usually follow the pattern of buying low and selling high, the dollar volume of insider buying has seemingly slowed down quite noticeably. The insiders’ contrarian approach to investing is probably what makes insider trading metrics worthwhile to the investment community.

However, examining all insider purchases and sales reported with the SEC requires intensive work considering the immense number of companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges, and here is where Insider Monkey comes in. Our insider trading articles cover the most noteworthy insider purchases and sales reported with the SEC each trading session – articles investors could use to find possible investment opportunities. Nonetheless, investors should not blindly mimic each insider transaction discussed in our articles or in any other articles out there. Instead, investors should incorporate insider metrics as part of a broader stock selection and analysis process, which would likely reduce the odds of making poor investment decisions. That being said, the following article will discuss several noteworthy insider transactions reported with the SEC on Thursday.

We follow over 700 hedge funds and other institutional investors and by analyzing their quarterly 13F filings, we identify stocks that they are collectively bullish on and develop investment strategies based on this data. One strategy that outperformed the market over the last year involves selecting the 100 best-performing funds and identifying the 30 mid-cap stocks that they are collectively the most bullish on. Over the past year, this strategy generated returns of 18%, topping the 8% gain registered by S&P 500 ETFs.

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Board Member of Expanding Financial Holding Company Buys Shares Near 52-Week Highs

Let’s kick off our discussion by looking at some fresh insider buying at First Mid-Illinois Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ:FMBH). Board member Gary W. Melvin snatched up 19,869 shares on Thursday at a price tag of $32.08 each. Following the recent purchase, Mr. Melvin currently owns an aggregate of 638,624 shares.

The shares of the financial holding company are trading near their 52-week high of $33.85, after gaining an impressive 29% thus far in 2016. This surely doesn’t explain the insider purchase discussed above. In early September, First Mid-Illinois Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ:FMBH) completed its acquisition of First Clover Leaf Financial Corp., which added approximately $537 million in deposits and $450 million in performing loans. With the completion of the acquisition, First Mid currently has 53 banking centers and 66 ATMs across Illinois and Missouri. Under the terms of the transaction, shareholders of Clover received $12.87 in cash or 0.495 of a share of First Mid common stock. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies LLC added a 62,300-share stake in First Mid-Illinois Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ:FMBH) to its portfolio during the third quarter.

The next two pages of this insider trading article will discuss fresh insider selling observed at four other companies.

The CEO-CFO Duo at U.S. Building Supplier Sell Shares After Agreeing to be Acquired

The most influential and well-informed executives – the CEO-CFO duo – at Headwaters Inc. (NYSE:HW) offloaded a great deal of shares this week. To start with, Chairman and CEO Kirk A. Benson sold 516,345 shares on Thursday at a price of $23.56 per share, cutting his overall holding to 874,993 shares. Chief Financial Officer Donald P. Newman discarded 85,413 shares on the same day at $23.66 apiece. After the recent sale, Mr. Newman currently owns a mere 41,000 shares.

In late November, Headwaters Inc. (NYSE:HW), one of the largest U.S. sellers of concrete ingredient fly ash, agreed to be acquired by Australia’s biggest supplier of building materials Boral Ltd. for $1.86 billion in cash. The combined entity will become the largest U.S. supplier of fly ash, a key ingredient in concrete, should the deal go through. This move comes amid strong optimism that President-elect Donald Trump will keep his promise of boosting infrastructure spending. The shareholders of building supplier Headwaters are set to receive $24.25 per share in cash at closing. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Advisors LLC was the owner of 1.13 million shares of Headwaters Inc. (NYSE:HW) at the end of the September quarter.

Insider at High-Flying On Assignment Offloads Shares

One insider at On Assignment Inc. (NYSE:ASGN) discarded a sizeable block of shares earlier this week. Jeffrey E. Veatch, an observer of the company’s Board of Directors, sold 100,000 shares on Thursday at prices varying from $45.00 to $45.13 per share. After the recent sale, Mr. Veatch currently holds an ownership stake of 847,390 shares.

The insider selling discussed above comes shortly after the shares of the provider of highly-skilled, hard-to-find professionals in the technology, life sciences, and creative sectors jumped by around 25% in the past month. In mid-August, analysts at Deutsche Bank initiated coverage on On Assignment Inc. (NYSE:ASGN) with a ‘Buy’ rating and a price target of $44, saying that “the scarcity of IT talent also provides some cushion to growth even in an underwhelming GDP environment.” The analysts attributed the rating to the company’s “attractive end markets, client mix, durable buyback, reasonable expectations, and attractive valuation” and they turned out to be quite accurate given that the company’s share price reached the $44-price target several days ago. There were 18 hedge fund vehicles from our system with stakes in the company at the end of September, amassing nearly 8% of its outstanding common stock. Mariko Gordon’s Daruma Asset Management added a 1.18-million-share position in On Assignment Inc. (NYSE:ASGN) to its pool of holdings during the third quarter.

The final page of this article will discuss insider selling at two other companies.

CEO and Board Member at Expanding Glacier Bancorp Sell Shares

The man in charge of Glacier Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:GBCI) and one of the company’s Board members trimmed their holdings this week. President and CEO Michael J. Blodnick discarded 100,000 shares on Wednesday at a weighted average price of $35.92 per share, cutting his overall holding to 204,543 shares. Board member James M. English liquidated 4,000 shares on Thursday at prices that fell between $36.98 and $37.00 per share. Mr. English currently holds an aggregate of 22,000 shares following the Thursday sale.

Glacier Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:GBCI), which provides banking services to individuals and businesses in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Washington through its wholly-owned bank subsidiary Glacier Bank, has seen the value of its shares rise by 39% since the beginning of the year. In mid-November, the company agreed to acquire TFB Bancorp Inc., the holding company for Arizona-based community bank the Foothills Bank. This acquisition represents Glacier’s 18^th acquisition since 2000 and its seventh announced acquisition in the past four years. The Foothills Bank provides banking services to businesses and individuals in Arizona with four banking offices. Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management reported owning 2.14 million shares of Glacier Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:GBCI) through the latest round of 13Fs.

Executives at Batteries Maker Energizer Trim Holdings

Two top-tier executives at Energizer Holdings Inc. (NYSE:ENR) sold shares this week. To begin with, Mark S. LaVigne, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, discarded 35,952 shares on Tuesday at prices ranging from $44.94 to $45.62 per share. Mr. LaVigne currently owns 12,484 shares. Brian K. Hamm, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, sold out his entire stake of 29,833 shares on the same day at a weighted average price of $45.30 per share.

The manufacturer, marketer and distributor of household batteries, specialty batteries and lighting products, and designer and marketer of automotive fragrance and appearance products has seen its market capitalization increase by 30% since early January. Energizer Holdings Inc. (NYSE:ENR)’s revenue for the year that ended September totaled $1.63 billion, up a mere 0.2% year-over-year. The increase reflects the acquisition of HandStands Holding Corporation, a designer and marketer of automotive fragrance and appearance products, as well as an increase in organic sales. The increase was offset by the unfavorable impact of currency fluctuations, as well as the deconsolidation of its Venezuelan operations. Adage Capital Management, founded by Phillip Gross and Robert Atchinson, owned around 991,000 shares of Energizer Holdings Inc. (NYSE:ENR) at the end of September.

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