High-Flying U.S. Shale Producer and Two Other Companies Register Heavy Insider Selling

Closed-End Investment Company Trading Below Net Asset Value Registers Insider Selling

General American Investors Co. Inc. (NYSE:GAM) has registered voluminous insider selling in recent weeks. Board member Arthur G. Altschul discarded an aggregate of 5,494 shares on Wednesday and Thursday at a weighted average price of $31.28 per share, cutting his entire ownership stake to 102,440 shares. All those freshly-sold shares were held through various trust funds. Spencer Davidson, Chairman of the company’s Board and former CEO, sold 5,600 shares on Wednesday for $31.01 each and 20,000 shares a day later at $31.33 apiece, all of which were held by trust funds. Mr. Davidson owns 961,543 shares that are held by Hudson Partnership, in which the Chairman is the General Partner, along with an additional indirect ownership stake of 194,408 shares held through various trust funds.

The closed-end investment company has seen the value of its shares drop by 5% since the beginning of the year. General American Investors Co. Inc. (NYSE:GAM)’s primary objective involves long-term capital appreciation through investing in companies with above average growth potential. The company’s net asset value per share decreased by 2.8% over the past year that ended March 31, whereas the S&P 500 Index gained 1.8% over the same time span. The closed-end investment company’s net asset value per share was $37.71 on March 31, sporting a 17.2% discount to the actual value of its shares. John A. Levin’s Levin Capital Strategies had 24,869 shares of General American Investors Co. Inc. (NYSE:GAM) in its portfolio on March 31.

Strong Performing Crude Oil and Natural Gas Company Registers Heavy Insider Selling

Continental Resources Inc. (NYSE:CLR) has witnessed four different insiders sell shares so far in June, so let’s take a look at the fresh activity only. To begin with, Eric S. Eissenstat, Secretary, Chief Risk Officer and General Counsel, offloaded 10,000 shares on Thursday at prices varying from $45.34 to $45.39 per share, trimming his ownership to 163,136 shares. Glen A. Brown, Senior Vice President of Exploration, sold 8,977 shares last Monday at prices that fell between $43.09 and $43.26 per share. After the not-so-distant sale, Mr. Brown continues to own 136,113 shares.

The independent crude oil and natural gas company has seen its market capitalization skyrocket by 89% since the start of 2016. Continental Resources Inc. (NYSE:CLR)’s operations are mainly focused on exploration and development activities in the Bakken field of North Dakota and Montana, as well as the SCOOP, STACK, and Northwest Cana areas of Oklahoma. Just recently, analysts at Canaccord Genuity raised their price target on the U.S. shale producer to $50 from $44 and reiterated their “Buy” rating on the stock, saying that “CLR is the largest leaseholder in the Williston Basin (WB) and a pioneer in the development of the SCOOP and STACK plays in Oklahoma, where it also the largest and most active leaseholder, is achieving impressive results, and has considerable upside that we do not believe is reflected in the stock price”. The company is also anticipated to complete drilled and uncompleted wells in the Williston Basin should crude oil prices remain in the range of $45 to $50 per barrel.

The number of asset managers followed by Insider Monkey with long positions in the crude oil and natural gas company increased to 50 from 34 during the March quarter. John Labanowski’s Brenham Capital Management acquired a new stake of 3.00 million shares of Continental Resources Inc. (NYSE:CLR) during the January-to-March period.

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