Insider Buying at Life Storage (LSI), Plus Prominent Insider Selling at MDU Resources (MDU) and 3 Other Companies

Insider Goes Wild Selling Shares of MDU Resources Group Inc (NYSE:MDU)

There’s been a veritable cornucopia (and I don’t bandy that word about very often) of insider selling at MDU Resources Group Inc (NYSE:MDU) this month, all of it from one man: Thomas Everist, Independent Director and Chairman of MDU’s Compensation Committee. Mr. Everist has sold a grand total of 300,000 shares in 30,000-share increments spread across ten separate transactions over the past two weeks. Mr. Everist owns 770,000 shares indirectly through a Corporation and 79,572 shares directly. He also owns 32,521 shares of phantom stock, to be settled for cash upon his retirement.

Shares of MDU Resources Group Inc (NYSE:MDU), which has pipeline, construction, and utilities operations, have gained 30% in 2016. The company has paid a quarterly stock dividend every quarter for the past 78 years, and those dividend payments currently equate to an annual dividend yield of 3.14%. MDU beat second quarter earnings estimates by $0.03, pulling in $0.24 per share, but missed revenue estimates by $30 million with $1.04 billion in sales. Jim Simons’ quant fund Renaissance Technologies slashed the size of its MDU holding by 84% during the second quarter, leaving it with 157,150 shares.

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Cluster of Selling Activity at Gigamon Inc (NYSE:GIMO)

Gigamon Inc (NYSE:GIMO) has also registered a sizable cluster of insider selling in recent weeks as shares have surged by 45% over the past three-month period. Helmut Wilke, Senior Vice President – Worldwide Sales, sold 4,000 shares on Wednesday at an average price of $45.24 per share, lowering his direct ownership stake to 69,113 shares. The latest sale comes on the heels of voluminous insider selling at the company dating back to August 1, which has seen multiple Directors and Executives unload over 300,000 shares of Gigamon.

Gigamon Inc (NYSE:GIMO), which is not a Pokemon Go creature, provides network traffic and security solutions. CEO Paul Hooper, who sold 45,000 of the aforementioned 300,000+ shares, was recently named one of the Top 100 Executives by CRN, while Gigamon itself was recognized on the company’s Security 100 list in March. Anand Parekh’s Alyeska Investment Group initiated a 378,134-share stake in Gigamon during the second quarter.

Way Too Many Insider Sales Transactions at Credit Acceptance Corp. (NASDAQ:CACC)

Major shareholder of Credit Acceptance Corp. (NASDAQ:CACC), Jill Foss Watson, has recorded dozens of insider transactions over the past month, in her capacity as the trustee of several Trusts. Most recently, 30,872 of the various Trusts’ shares were sold over the past two days, leaving them with a combined 2.48 million shares. She also has indirect ownership of 2,146 shares owned by her son.

A top finance stock pick of BloombergSen, Credit Acceptance Corp. (NASDAQ:CACC) shares have been volatile this year and are trading down by 6% in 2016. A provider of financing programs to auto dealerships, the company’s volume per dealer fell by 1.8% during the second quarter, while its forecasted collection loan percentage declined for the seventh-straight year as of June 30, to 66.5% from a high of 79.5% in 2009. Annualized adjusted return on capital also slid to 11.9% as of June 30, from 13.6% on September 30, 2014.

Disclosure: None