Enormous Cluster of Insider Selling at Brokerage and Investment Banking Firm Stifel (SF), Plus Other Noteworthy Insider Transactions

Board Member of Bank of America Buys Shares Despite Numerous Analyst Downgrades

A member of Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC)’s Board also snapped up a block of shares this week. Board member Michael D. White, who is also an advisory partner at well-known activist hedge fund Trian Fund Management (the activist fund did not have anything to do with Mr. White’s appointment to the Board this summer), bought 25,000 shares on Monday at a price tag of $20.14 each, lifting his overall holding to 79,150 shares.

Stock market watchers are well-aware of billionaire Warren Buffet’s love affair with Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC), and some have been arguing that owning the shares of this bank was the biggest mistake of Mr. Buffett’s career. Nonetheless, the “Oracle of Omaha” is one of the biggest winners from the recent surge in the shares of Bank of America (Warren Buffett has the option to buy 700 million shares of the bank for $5 billion any time before September 2021 and also owns a great deal of Bank of America’s 6% cumulative perpetual preferred stock). Despite being an avid supporter of Hillary Clinton, Warren Buffett has been one of the big winners of Donald Trump’s surprising election victory as the shares of Bank of America have gained significantly over the past weeks. However, analysts such as David George of Robert W. Baird believe the shares of Bank of America have become too pricey and have advised investors to “take profits and selectively reduce exposure.” The Baird analyst recently cut his rating on the bank to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ despite raising his price target on the stock to $18 from $17. The shares of Bank of America are 22% in the green this year. Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management reported ownership of 35.75 million shares of Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) in its 13F for the September quarter.

CEO-CFO Duo at Large Print and Online Publisher Buy Shares Through Public Offering

Let’s turn our attention to some insider buying conducted by the CFO-CEO duo at New Media Investment Group Inc. (NYSE:NEWM). To start with, Gregory W. Freiberg, Chief Financial and Accounting Officer, bought 10,000 shares on Wednesday at $16.00 apiece, a purchase that lifted his stake to 117,769 shares. Chief Executive Officer Michael E. Reed purchased the same amount of shares on Wednesday, boosting his holding to 175,769 shares.

Both the CEO and CFO purchased the shares through a public offering that generated gross proceeds of around $120 million, which are expected to be used for general corporate purchases that may include potential acquisitions of local media businesses and assets. Earlier this month, the man in charge of the company that owns the Columbus Dispatch purchased an additional 50,000 shares at much lower prices of $14.17-to-$14.35 per share. New Media Investment Group Inc. (NYSE:NEWM) owns, operates and invests in high-quality local-media assets, with its portfolio of assets comprising 614 publications, 527 websites, 78 mobile sites, and six yellow page directories as of the end of September. The shares of New Media are down by 19% thus far in 2016. Leon Cooperman’s Omega Advisors had 2.98 million shares of New Media Investment Group Inc. (NYSE:NEWM) in its portfolio at the end of September.

The final page of this article will digest some fresh insider selling observed at two companies.