Cluster of Insider Buying at Inovalon Holdings Inc. (INOV) after Slashing Guidance, Plus Other Noteworthy Pre-Holiday Insider Transactions

Insiders at Luxury Hotel REIT Sell Shares

Several insiders at Host Hotels and Resorts Inc. (NYSE:HST) offloaded shares over the course of this month. Brian G. MacNamara, Senior Vice President and Corporate Controller, discarded 8,427 shares on December 21 at a price of $19.38 per share, cutting his overall holding to 45,745 shares. Joanne G. Hamilton, Executive Vice President of Human Resources, sold 20,000 shares on December 16 at $19.01 apiece. Following the recent sale, Ms. Hamilton currently owns 27,893 shares.

The self-managed real estate investment trust, whose portfolio primarily consists of luxury and upper upscale hotels, has seen its market capitalization rise by 23% since the beginning of the year. Host Hotels and Resorts Inc. (NYSE:HST)’s revenue per available room increased by 3.8% for the third quarter, reflecting a 120 basis points increase in occupancy and a 2.2% increase in average room rate. Strong results at the company’s international properties, as well as the shift in holidays to the fourth quarter, resulted in improvements in both rate and occupancy. Nonetheless, a continued slowdown in corporate transient demand, predominantly due to weakening business investments, reduced corporate profits and global political and economic uncertainty, somewhat limited the increase in both occupancy and rate. There were 17 hedge funds from our system invested in Host Hotels and Resorts at the end of the third quarter, up from 14 invested at the end of the second quarter. George Hall’s Clinton Group added a 1.01 million-share stake in Host Hotels and Resorts Inc. (NYSE:HST) to its pool of holdings during the third quarter.

CEO of TV-Station Operator and Digital-Media Company Unloads Shares

The person in charge of Tegna Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) offloaded a sizeable block of shares earlier this month. President and CEO Gracia C. Martore sold 140,179 shares on December 20 at prices varying from $22.07 to $22.51 per share. Ms. Martore currently owns an aggregate of 30,034 shares following the recent sale.

The shares of the TV-station operator and digital-media company are down 13% thus far in 2016. Tegna Inc. (NYSE:TGNA)’s portfolio of media and digital businesses comprises one of the largest, most geographically diverse broadcasters in the United States and two leading digital companies, Cars.com and CareerBuilder. In early September, the company announced plans to spin-off its Cars.com business unit, which generated annual revenue of around $597 million in 2015. The planned separation will be implemented via a tax-free distribution of shares in a newly-formed entity, with the transaction anticipated to be completed in the first half of 2017. David Harding’s Winton Capital Management owned 1.13 million shares of Tegna Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) at the end of September.

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