Knowledgeable investors usually pay close attention to the insider activity in different companies, rightfully assuming that the insiders have better knowledge of what’s going on within the company than any of us. Thus, one can get a feeling about a company’s prospects simply by watching the trading activity of corporate insiders. High insider buying activity generally suggests confidence in the company’s prospects and indicates a good sign for investors. However, one should not be alarmed by insider selling, except if there is lot of unloading by insiders taking place. Insiders might cash out their stakes for various reasons that do not relate to their expectations of the company. Nevertheless, if there is a lot of insider selling activity from numerous insiders over a short period, this might indicate that something is going on within the company. In the following article, we will discuss three companies which had a large volume of insider selling in terms of value by one or more insiders this week. The companies in question include: NIKE Inc. (NYSE:NKE), Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE:JNPR), and Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:TXN).
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Let’s start off by taking a look at the first company on our list, NIKE Inc. (NYSE:NKE). Mark G. Parker, the Chief Executive Officer and President of Nike, has unloaded a part of his stake in the company recently. Specifically, he made three sales on July 28 and July 29, amounting to 200,000 shares, at prices ranging from $112.00 to $113.50. And Parker is not the only insider who has been selling shares of NIKE lately. Bernard F. Pliska, the Vice President of Nike, and Hilary K. Krane, the Chief Administrative Officer and Executive Vice President of Nike, sold shares during the same two-day period, 36,000 shares and 28,869 shares, respectively. The shares of Nike are currently trading at an all-time high, reaching an increase of nearly 20% year-to-date. Sports shoes have been experiencing a strong year thus far, with an increase in sales of 8% and prices up by 7% in the first half of the current year. In addition to that, the sales of children’s sports shoes have seen a boost of 11% thanks to the high demand for back-to-school items. Considering the 58% market share Nike has, it is no surprise that its stock is currently trading at an all-time high. Within our database, Paul Ruddock and Steve Heinz’s Lansdowne Partners represents the largest investor in NIKE Inc. (NYSE:NKE) as of March 31, with 8.77 million shares.
Moving on to Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE:JNPR), the insider selling activity at the company is noteworthy as well. The most recent sizable sales since the beginning of the current week have been made by William Stensrud, an Independent Director of Juniper Networks; Vincent Molinaro, the Chief Customer Officer and Executive Vice President; and Robyn Denholm, the Chief Financial and Operations Officer. Stensrud reported selling 10,000 shares on July 30 at a price of $27.50 per share, while Vincent Molinaro sold 14,290 shares at a lower price of $27.29. Finally, Robyn Denholm reported selling 52,003 shares at prices of $27.27 and $27.33. The shares of Juniper Networks have grown by over 25% since the beginning of the current year, partly owing to the solid second quarter earnings (read more details). Just recently, the company posted earnings per share of $0.41, beating analysts’ estimate of $0.31 per share. By the same token, Juniper Networks generated better-than-expected revenues of $1.22 billion, compared to the $1.10 billion figure anticipated by analysts. From the pool of over 700 hedge funds we track, Paul Singer’s Elliott Management is by far the largest shareholder in Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE:JNPR), with 39.24 million shares.
Last but not least, we will take a quick look at the insider selling activity at Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:TXN). The latest sales were made by Independent Director Carrie S. Cox, who sold 22,000 shares at a price of $50.00 each on July 28. In total, the Independent Director of Texas Instruments sold $1.10 million worth of shares. The shares of Texas Instruments have decreased by slightly over 6% year-to-date, as the company did not manage to exceed analysts’ earnings estimates for the second quarter of 2015. The company reported second quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $0.65, meeting the analysts’ expectations on earnings. However, Texas Instruments delivered lower-than-expected revenues, amounting to $3.23 billion versus the $3.26 billion figure expected by analysts. However, the company managed to improve its gross margins thanks to enhanced efficiency of its manufacturing strategy. The gross margins improved to 58.20% from the margins of 54.74% posted in the same quarter a year ago. Within our database, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group represents the largest investor in Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:TXN), with 1.61 million shares.
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