Mystery Anadarko Investors Accused of Insider Trading by SEC (Bloomberg)
(Bloomberg) — The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission obtained an asset freeze tied to shares in Anadarko Petroleum Corp. after one or more unknown investors allegedly made illegal trades ahead of Chevron Corp.’s takeover bid earlier this month. The mystery traders bought Anadarko options from Feb. 8 to April 1, before the company’s shares jumped 32 percent on news of Chevron’s offer, according to a Monday order from Judge Gregory H. Woods. Two days after Chevron sent a letter to Anadarko in February about a takeover, the mystery traders started buying out-of-the-money call options eventually making $2.5 million from the illicit trading, the SEC said.
Archer-Daniels Midland Co (ADM) President & CEO Juan R Luciano Bought $1 Million of Shares (GuruFocus)
President & CEO of Archer-Daniels Midland Co (NYSE:ADM) Juan R Luciano bought 23,657 shares of ADM on 04/29/2019 at an average price of $42.3 a share. The total cost of this purchase was $1 million. Archer-Daniels Midland Co is a major processor of oilseeds, corn, wheat, and other agricultural commodities. The company’s end products include vegetable oil and meal, corn sweeteners, flour, feed ingredients, and ethanol. Archer-Daniels Midland Co has a market cap of $24.12 billion; its shares were traded at around $43.07 with a P/E ratio of 13.49 and P/S ratio of 0.38. The dividend yield of Archer-Daniels Midland Co stocks is 3.14%.
A New Sun Pharma Policy on Insider Trading Raises Questions of Double Standards (StatNews.com)
Earlier this month, a senior executive at Sun Pharmaceuticals (SUNPHARMA), one of the world’s largest purveyors of generic drugs, and his wife settled insider trading allegations brought by Indian regulators. The case stemmed from an episode five years ago, when Abhay Gandhi traded in Ranbaxy Laboratories stock soon after Sun Pharma agreed to buy the company from another drug maker. Despite the infraction, Gandhi remains with the company as both head of its North American operations and as a director of Taro Pharmaceuticals, in which Sun Pharma owns a controlling stake. Meanwhile, a just few days after he and his wife agreed to pay $100,000 to settle the case, Sun Pharma sent an email to employees about a new policy to make it easier for whistleblowers to convey information about insider trading.
Former S&P Analyst Convicted in Insider Trading Case (InvestmentExecutive.com)
A former analyst with the New York City office credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s has been convicted on securities fraud charges for passing along inside information about a pending merger announcement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Southern District of New York announced Friday. Sebastian Pinto-Thomaz, 32, was convicted of two counts of securities fraud and two counts of conspiracy. According to U.S. authorities, Pinto-Thomaz received inside information about Sherwin-Williams Co.’s planned acquisition of Valspar Corp. in 2016, as part of his work on the transaction for S&P.
Monday 4/29 Insider Buying Report: IBTX, ORIT (Nasdaq.com)
On Thursday, Independent Bank Group (IBTX)’s CLO, Brian E. Hobart, made a $100,061 buy of IBTX, purchasing 1,790 shares at a cost of $55.90 each. Independent Bank Group is trading up about 0.9% on the day Monday. Before this latest buy, Hobart bought IBTX at 4 other times during the past year, for a total cost of $499,574 at an average of $52.75 per share. And at Oritani Financial Corp (ORIT), there was insider buying on Friday, by Director Judith Schumacher-Tilton who bought 5,000 shares for a cost of $17.03 each, for a total investment of $85,169. Before this latest buy, Schumacher-Tilton purchased ORIT at 3 other times during the past twelve months, for a total investment of $289,574 at an average of $16.09 per share. Oritani Financial Corp is trading up about 1.8% on the day Monday. So far Schumacher-Tilton is in the green, up about 3.1% on their purchase based on today’s trading high of $17.57.
Iliad’s Executive Lombardini Fined EUR 600,000 for Insider Trading (TelecomPaper.com)
The French financial market authority (AMF) has inflicted fines for insider trading to telecom group Iliad and its chairman Maxime Lombardini, following an investigation linked to the company’s attempted takeover of T-Mobile USA in 2014. Lombardini has been ordered to pay EUR 600,000 for misconduct committed when he was CEO of Iliad. In March, the regulator had recommended a EUR 1 million fine for the executive, based on accusations that he sold shares in the company just a few weeks before Iliad’s bid for a majority stake in T-Mobile USA. The verdict, which can be subject to appeal, also fines the telecom group EUR 100,000 for delaying a statement to the market by around a week regarding its interest in T-Mobile US.
The EVP, COO of Meritage Corp (NYSE: MTH) is Selling Shares (AnalystRatings)
Today, the EVP, COO of Meritage Corp (MTH), Phillippe Lord, sold shares of MTH for $152.3K. Following Phillippe Lord’s last MTH Sell transaction on March 08, 2019, the stock climbed by 6.9%. In addition to Phillippe Lord, one other MTH executive reported Sell trades in the last month.
Insider Buys Of The Week: Crown Castle, Kinder Morgan, Morgan Stanley (Benzinga)
Here’s a look at a few notable insider purchases reported in the past week. Crown Castle: A Crown Castle International Corp (CCI) 0.14% director last week acquired more than 18,300 shares of this shared communications infrastructure company. At an average of about $123.14 per share, the transactions totaled more than $2.25 million. Note that 9,800 of those shares were purchased via trust for the benefit of family members.
