CEOs Are Buying and Selling Shares of These Companies

Keeping tabs on insider trading behavior may be quite important for investors, because past research shows that insiders’ actions can offer an accurate reflection of the prospects for a company, industry or even a stock market in general. Intuitively, this makes perfect sense. After all, corporate insiders possess a broad set of skills and characteristics that could be used to describe the “value-oriented” type of investors.

Some of these skills and characteristics include: an extensive knowledge and understanding of their companies and industries; a tendency to employ the contrarian approach to investing; and a tendency to maintain a long term perspective. Hence, insider trading activity, especially insider buying, represents a strong source of information for long-term-oriented investors. As legendary investor Peter Lynch once said, corporate insiders may sell shares of their own companies for a variety of reasons such as estate planning or diversification benefits, but there is only one reason they buy – they think the price is going up. Insider Monkey identified a set of noteworthy insider transactions reported with the SEC on Wednesday, so this article will discuss notable insider trading recently witnessed at five U.S. publicly traded companies.

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CEO of Struggling Cruise Operator Buys Sizable Amount of Shares

The most influential corporate insider at Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:NCLH) purchased two separate blocks of shares at the end of August. Frank J. Del Rio, President and Chief Executive Officer, purchased a block of 55,623 shares on Wednesday at prices varying from $35.75 to $36.34 per share, lifting his direct ownership holding to 451,171 shares. Mr. Del Rio also snapped up a new stake of 27,875 shares on the same day at a weighted average cost of $35.90 per share, a stake owned directly by FJDR Family Trust.

The global cruise company, which operates the Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises brands, has lost 38% of its market capitalization since the beginning of the year. The aforementioned insider buying comes shortly after Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:NCLH) lowered its full-year earnings forecast to the range of $3.35-to-$3.45 per share from the previous guidance of $3.65-to-$3.85 per share. The revised earnings expectations reflect four main factors, which include “continued weak demand for our core North American consumer for European sailings at a time when half for our fleet is deployed in the region,” the impact of the weaker British pound following the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union, among other things. Richard Barrera’s Roystone Capital Partners trimmed its position in Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:NCLH) by 57% during the June quarter to 846,700 shares.

The second page of the article discusses fresh insider buying witnessed at two companies, while the final page reveals noteworthy insider selling activity observed at two other companies.

Board Member at Specialty Insurer Baldwin & Lyons Piles Up Shares

A corporate insider at Baldwin & Lyons Inc. (NASDAQ:BWINB) made a sizable purchase of company stock earlier this week; the most voluminous insider purchase at the company this year. Board member Arshad R. Zakaria bought 29,824 Class A (voting) shares on Wednesday at a price tag of $24.07 each, boosting his ownership of Class A shares to 82,824 units. Mr. Zakaria also owns 92,410 Class B (non-voting) shares.

Baldwin & Lyons Inc. (NASDAQ:BWINB), which engages in marketing and underwriting property and casualty insurance products, has seen the value of its stock gain 5% since the start of the year. The specialty insurer recorded premium written of $100.0 million for the second quarter of 2016, up from the $92.8 million written during the second quarter of the previous year. The increase was mainly attributable to continued strong performance of the company’s core Fleet Transportation products; Baldwin & Lyons offers multiple line insurance coverage mainly to fleet transportation companies. Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial Holdings was the owner of around 970,000 Class B shares of Baldwin & Lyons Inc. (NASDAQ:BWINB) at the end of June.

CEO of Battered Drug Developer Buys Shares

The man in charge of Chimerix Inc. (NASDAQ:CMRX) also completed a notable purchase of stock at the beginning of the week. President and CEO M. Michelle Berrey snatched up 22,417 shares on Monday at prices that fell between $4.44 and $4.51 per share. Following the recent purchase, Dr. Berrey currently holds an ownership of 282,238 shares.

At the end of December, the biopharmaceutical company announced that its Phase 3 SUPPRESS trial of brincidofovir, the company’s lead compound, failed to demonstrate the efficacy of this drug in preventing the reactivation of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplants. A great deal of value has been erased since the announcement, as Chimerix Inc. (NASDAQ:CMRX)’s shares are down 90% in the past year. In spite of the December-failure and two halted late-stage trials in February, the drug developer continues to evaluate brincidofovir as a possible treatment for adenovirus, cytomegalovirus and smallpox. Dennis Purcell’s Aisling Capital reported ownership of approximately 473,000 shares of Chimerix Inc. (NASDAQ:CMRX) through the latest round of 13Fs.

The final page of the article will reveal noteworthy insider selling at two other companies.

CEO of Specialty Home Retailer Offloads Sizable Block of Shares Amid Weak Performance

The top-ranking executive at Williams-Sonoma Inc. (NYSE:WSM) offloaded a sizable block of shares earlier this week. President and CEO Laura J. Alber discarded an 80,000-share block on Monday at prices ranging from $52.55 to $53.39 per share, cutting her direct holding to 307,860 shares. Ms. Alber also holds an indirect ownership stake of 13,790 shares.

The shares of the specialty retailer of products for home are 11% in the red thus far in 2016. Soon after Williams-Sonoma Inc. (NYSE:WSM) reported a weaker-than-expected top line for the second quarter and a downbeat full-year guidance, analysts at Jefferies cut their price target on the stock to $56 from $57 while maintaining their ‘Hold’ rating on the company. The specialty home retailer blamed the softening retailer environment, impacted by weaker consumer spending, for the revenue miss. Jefferies analysts also pointed out that Williams-Sonoma could face increased competition and promotion pressure from both brick-and-mortar and online retailers. The specialty home retailer fell out of favor with the hedge funds followed by Insider Monkey during the second quarter of 2016, as the number of funds invested in the company fell to 18 from 31 quarter-on-quarter. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies LLC had 676,300 shares of Williams-Sonoma Inc. (NYSE:WSM) among its holdings at the end of the April-to-June period.

CEO of Buffalo Bank Sells Shares

The most influential insider at M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE:MTB) unloaded some shares this week, after several other insiders at the company discarded shares through the course of the previous week. Robert G. Wilmers, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, sold 39,637 shares on Monday and 60,363 shares on Wednesday at prices varying from $118.25 to $118.74 per share. After the recent transactions, Mr. Wilmers currently holds a direct ownership stake of 2.43 million shares.

The financial holding company, which has M&T Bank as its principal banking subsidiary, has seen its market capitalization drop by 3% since the start of the year. At the end of June, the Federal Reserve approved M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE:MTB)’s capital plan in the regulator’s annual stress test, with the capital plan including an increase in the company’s quarterly dividend by up to $0.05 per share to $0.75 in the first quarter of 2017. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owns 5.38 million shares of M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE:MTB) as of June 30.

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