These Companies’ Insiders Sell Shares Ahead of Likely Fed Rate Hike

American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL) is another company that saw an executive selling big this past week. Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer Maya Leibman sold 19,778 shares on Friday at a weighted average price of $42.75, while an additional 14,294 shares were withheld to cover taxes related to the vesting of restricted stock units. After the recent transactions, the CIO currently holds a stake of 362,440 shares. The U.S. airline industry revenues decreased for the third quarter of 2015 relative to the same period of 2014, while capacity (measured by available seat miles) increased. Meanwhile, jet fuel prices are strongly correlated with the price of Brent crude oil, which was roughly 51% lower in the third quarter of this year relative to the third quarter of 2014. American Airlines Group reported operating revenues of $10.7 billion for the third quarter, down $433 million or 3.9% year-on-year. Nevertheless, the airline’s net income increased to $1.7 billion from $942 million year-over-year, thanks to lower fuel costs. Even so, the shares of American Airlines have declined by 20% thus far in 2015 and are trading at a very appealing trailing P/E ratio of 6.07. The number of smart money investors with positions in the airline company decreased to 77 from 85 during the third quarter. Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management holds a 2.18 million-share position in American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL) as of the end of the third quarter.

Let’s refocus our attention on the insider selling activity registered at AMN Healthcare Services Inc. (NYSE:AHS). Chairman Douglas D. Wheat sold out his entire 27,303-share stake on Friday at prices that ranged from $29.74-to-$30.02 per share. The shares of the provider of healthcare workforce solutions and staffing services to the healthcare industry have advanced by 49% in 2015 and by 365% over the past five years, so it is no wonder why insiders are cashing out on the company. The healthcare staffing environment continued to be quite strong in 2015, driving substantial revenue growth for the company. The company’s revenue for the nine months that ended September 30 totaled $1.06 billion, up from $756.4 million reported a year ago. Its net revenue increased to $61.7 million from $23.3 million year-over-year. AMN Healthcare’s nurse and allied healthcare staffing segment revenue represented roughly 67% of the company’s consolidated revenue for the first nine months of 2015. A total of 23 hedge funds from our database had positions in the company at the end of the third quarter (amassing 8.90% of the company’s outstanding common stock), as compared with 25 reported at the end of the second quarter. Columbus Circle Investors, managed by Clifford G. Fox, owns 742,147 shares of AMN Healthcare Services Inc. (NYSE:AHS) as of September 30.

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