Servicemaster Global Holdings Inc. (SERV) CEO Unloads Over 75% of Shares, Plus Heavy Insider Buying at 4 Companies

Cluster of Insider Buying at Supplier to Aerospace Industry After Earnings Release

Three different executives at Triumph Group Inc. (NYSE:TGI) piled up shares on the open market earlier this week. To start with, President and Chief Executive Officer Daniel J. Crowley acquired 50,000 shares on Monday at prices that fell between $25.20 and $26.15 per share, a purchase that boosted his overall holding to 389,567 shares. Thomas K. Holzthum, Executive Vice President of Integrated Systems, snatched up 10,000 shares on the very same day at a price tag of $25.50 each. Following the recent purchase, Mr. Holzthum currently owns an aggregate of 24,076 shares. Lastly, Richard R. Lovely, Senior Vice President of Human Resources, acquired a new stake of 2,000 shares on Monday at a price of $25.13 per share.

Triumph Group Inc. (NYSE:TGI), a major supplier to the aerospace industry, has lost 29% of its market value since the start of the year. Earlier this year, the company announced plans to restructure certain of its businesses, as well as consolidate certain facilities. As part of the restructuring plans, Triumph Group anticipates reducing its footprint by around 3.5 million square feet and reducing the company’s head count by 1,200 employees. Just recently, the company reported net sales of $874.8 million for the second quarter of its fiscal 2017 ended September 30, which marked a decrease of 8.4% year-over-year. Triumph Group also lowered its fiscal 2017 revenue guidance to $3.5 billion-to-$3.6 billion from the previous guidance of $3.6 billion-to-$3.7 billion. Charles Paquelet’s Skylands Capital reported owning 58,700 shares of Triumph Group Inc. (NYSE:TGI) through the current round of 13F filings.

Board Members of Attractive Communications Company Buy Shares

Two members of Centurylink Inc. (NYSE:CTL)‘s Board boosted their holdings in the company at the beginning of the week. William A. Owens, member of the company’s Board of Directors since July 2009, bought 42,800 shares on Monday at prices varying from $23.23 to $23.42 per share, lifting his ownership to 95,275 shares. Martha Helena Bejar, yet another member of Centurylink’s Board, acquired 8,250 units of common stock on Monday for $23.41 each. After the recent acquisition, Ms. Bejar currently holds an ownership stake of 13,109 shares.

The insider buying at the integrated communications company focused on providing services to residential and business customers is one of several possible catalysts for the stock in the near-term. Just recently, analysts at Oppenheimer & Co. upgraded the communications company to ‘Outperform’, suggesting that Centurylink Inc. (NYSE:CTL) represents a better buying opportunity than AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T). Oppenheimer analysts are partly attracted by Centurylink’s current quarterly dividend of $0.54 per share, which yields 8.89% annually. Centurylink’s dividend yield is higher by around 4 percentage points compared to AT&T’s yield, and Oppenheimer analysts anticipate the spread to converge back to the historical average of around 2 percentage points (which suggests that Centurylink’s yield could fall through the stock rising in value). Centurylink shares are 3% in the red this year. David Harding’s Winton Capital Management was the owner of 338,232 shares of Centurylink Inc. (NYSE:CTL) at the end of the third quarter.

The final page of this article will discuss the insider trading observed at two other companies.