Massive Cluster of Insider Selling at Western Alliance, Executives at Insulin Pump Maker Buy Shares Amid Harmful Allegations Against the Company, Plus Other Insider Trading

Insiders at Promising Player in the Field of Synthetic Biology Purchase Shares

Two insiders at Intrexon Corp (NYSE:XON) also piled up some shares last week. Fred Hassan, appointed to the company’s Board of Directors in late June, acquired a new stake of 6,900 shares on Thursday at prices varying from $28.86 to $29.14 per share. Nir Nimrodi, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development, also snapped up a stake of 4,000 shares last Tuesday at prices that fell between $26.07 and $26.15 per share. The newly-acquired stake is held indirectly by the Nimrodi Family Trust.

Although the shares of the engineered biology conglomerate are down a little less than 1% thus far in 2016, the company appears to have a strong portfolio of products that will drive growth in the foreseeable future. In late October, Intrexon Corp (NYSE:XON) launched a laboratory in Brazil capable of producing 60 million genetically-modified mosquitoes a week that could protect up to 3 million locals from mosquito-borne diseases such as Zika and dengue. A portion of the new facility’s production capacity will likely be used to support an ongoing program to suppress Aedes aegypti – the mosquito that carries the Zika virus. Ongoing trails in Brazil, Panama and the Cayman Islands have demonstrated that the genetically-modified mosquitoes, called Friendly Aedes, can reduce localized Aedes aegypti populations by more than 90%. Intrexon has lost some appeal within the hedge fund industry, as the number of funds from our database with stakes in the company fell to 10 from 16 during the third quarter. Iridian Asset Management, founded by David Cohen and Harold Levy, reported ownership of 3.99 million shares of Intrexon Corp (NYSE:XON) through the last round of 13Fs.

CEO of Struggling Chinese Manufacturer of EV Parts Buys Shares

The man in charge of Kandi Technologies Group Inc. (NASDAQ:KNDI) also bought some shares last week. President and CEO Hu Xiaoming filed Monday to disclose the purchase of 34,000 shares for $4.75 each and 28,251 shares at $4.67 apiece, all of which are held indirectly by Excel Vantage Group. Mr. Xiaoming holds an indirect ownership stake of 12.23 million shares, as well as owns 1.14 million shares directly.

The producer and manufacturer of electrical vehicle products, electrical vehicle parts and off road vehicles in China has seen its market capitalization fall by 52% since the start of the year. Kandi Technologies Group Inc. (NASDAQ:KNDI)’s third-quarter total revenue decreased by a disturbing 87.4% year-over-year to $6.4 million, after a Chinese government decision to withhold subsidies pending an investigation on all the EV manufactures. The delay in subsidy payment heavily impacted the company’s production and sales, causing a massive drop in its EV parts sales. Five Chinese EV companies have already been removed from the list of companies eligible for government subsidies, with the investigation still continuing. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Advisors LLC had 48,980 shares of Kandi Technologies Group Inc. (NASDAQ:KNDI) in its portfolio at the end of September.

The final page of this article will focus on fresh insider selling observed at two other companies.