Insider Selling Alert at East West Bancorp Inc. (EWBC), Boston Scientific Corporation (BSX) and PPG Industries Inc. (PPG)

A sizable insider sale was registered in the shares of Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX) at the beginning of the current trading week. Ernest Mario, who has been a Director of Boston Scientific since October 2001, sold 125,000 shares on Monday at prices ranging from $17.55-to-$17.70, trimming his position to 86,032 shares. Earlier this month, Joseph M. Fitzgerald, Executive Vice President and President, Rhythm Management for Boston Scientific, unloaded 26,220 shares at a weighted average price of $18.58 and currently holds a direct ownership stake of 103,925 shares. On November 10, the medical-device giant announced an agreement to acquire the interventional radiology portfolio of CeloNova Biosciences, in an attempt to expand its interventional oncology business. Under the terms of the agreement, Boston Scientific is set to make an upfront payment of $70 million and make additional payments contingent on regulatory and sales milestones. Meanwhile, the shares of Boston Scientific are nearly 33% in the green year-to-date, so it is not surprising to see insiders cash out. The number of hedge funds monitored by our team with positions in the company climbed to 37 from 35 during the September quarter. Samuel Isaly’s Orbimed Advisors reported owning 24.01 million shares of Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX) through the latest round of 13F filings.

Finally, let’s take a thorough look at the recent insider selling activity at PPG Industries Inc. (NYSE:PPG). Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Charles E. Bunch offloaded 16,286 shares on Monday at a weighted average price of $101.94, and currently owns 720,070 shares. The multinational manufacturer of paints, coatings, specialty materials, chemicals, glass, and fiberglass has seen its shares decline by 10% in 2015, mainly owing to growing concerns about the slowing global economy. PPG’s third quarter net sales decreased by roughly 2% year-over-year to $3.87 billion, primarily as a result of unfavorable foreign currency translation and lower sales volumes. Even so, the company’s management anticipates that the sales volume growth will escalate in the fourth quarter, as the global economy seems to be reviving. It appears that PPG’s stock is fairly valued at the moment, if considering its trailing price-to-earnings ratio of 24.15, which is slightly above the average of 22.70 for the comapnies in the S&P 500. PPG was very appealing to the hedge fund firms included in our database during the third quarter, as the number of smart money investors with positions in the company increased to 51 from 46 during the three-month period. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group was the largest equity holder of PPG Industries Inc. (NYSE:PPG) within our database at the end of the September quarter, holding 3.42 million shares.

Disclosure: None