Welcome to edition 227 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying declined sharply last week with insiders buying $56.48 million of stock compared to $165.25 million in the week prior. Selling also decreased with insiders selling $393.38 million of stock last week compared to $653.17 million in the week prior.

Sell/Buy Ratio: The insider Sell/Buy ratio is calculated by dividing the total insider sales in a given week by total insider purchases that week. The adjusted ratio for last week went up to 6.96. In other words, insiders sold  almost 7 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 3.95. We are calculating an adjusted ratio by removing transactions by funds and companies and trying as best as possible only to retain information about insiders and 10% owners who are not funds or companies.

Insider Sell Buy Ratio October 24, 2014

Note: As mentioned in the first post in this series, certain industries have their preferred metrics such as same store sales for retailers, funds from operations (FFO) for REITs and revenue per available room (RevPAR) for hotels that provide a better basis for comparison than simple valuation metrics. However metrics like Price/Earnings, Price/Sales and Enterprise Value/EBITDA included below should provide a good starting point for analyzing the majority of stocks.

Notable Insider Buys:

1. AGCO Corporation (AGCO): $45.3

Director Mallika Srinivasan acquired 491,557 shares of this farm & construction machinery company, paying $44.13 per share for a total amount of $21.73 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Chennai, India based TAFE Motors and Tractors Limited.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for AGCO Corporation here.

2. Sears Holdings Corporation (SHLD): $38.97

10% owner Bruce R. Berkowitz acquired 491,557 shares of this department stores chain, paying $44.13 per share for a total amount of $21.73 million.

We normally don’t include purchases by 10% owners or funds but decided to make an exception in this case to highlight Bruce Berkowitz’s continued purchases of Sears. They remind me of Francis Chou’s purchases of Overstock.com (OSTK) back in 2011-2012 when the numbers didn’t look particularly attractive. You can read a profile of Mr. Chou in a Gurufocus.com article titled ‘The Investment Guru That You Never Heard Of‘.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Sears Holdings Corporation here.

3. Opko Health, Inc. (OPK): $8.4

CEO & Chairman Phillip Frost M.D. acquired 94,800 shares of this medical devices and drug development company, paying $8.23 per share for a total amount of $780,378. These shares were purchased indirectly by Frost Gamma Investments Trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Opko Health, Inc. here.

4. NanoViricides, Inc. (NNVC): $3.4

Director Milton Boniuk acquired 100,000 shares of this nano-biopharmaceutical company, paying $3.11 per share for a total amount of $310,532. Mr. Boniuk increased his stake by 15.18% to 758,963 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for NanoViricides, Inc. here.

5. LiveDeal, Inc. (LIVE): $2.96

CEO, CFO and President Jon Isaac acquired 100,000 shares of this internet information provider, paying $3.06 per share for a total amount of $305,875. Mr. Isaac increased his stake by 1.22% to 8,303,245 shares with this purchase.

If there ever was a case of a CEO buying shares to signal the market, this is it. The company issued a press release last week indicating Mr. Isaac was going to buy 250,000 shares of the company and the stock opened nearly 18% higher the following day only to settle lower by the end of the day. The stock again spiked when the actual form 4 was filed only to once again settle lower. The company then issued another press release to indicate Mr. Isaac had purchased 100,000 shares.

Looking at the numbers, it is hard to fathom why Mr. Isaac is buying shares.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for LiveDeal, Inc. here.

You can view the full list of purchases from this Insider Buying page.

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Honeywell International Inc. (HON): $94.7

Shares of this industrial technology and manufacturing company were sold by 3 insiders:

• SVP-HR Procurement & Communications Mark R. James sold 123,174 shares for $92.92, generating $11.45 million from the sale. 80,000 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Vice Chairman Roger Fradin sold 88,677 shares for $93.84, generating $8.32 million from the sale.
• President & CEO, ACS Alexandre Ismail sold 53,831 shares for $92.68, generating $4.99 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Honeywell International Inc. here.

2. Monsanto Company (MON): $113.28

Chairman & CEO Hugh Grant sold 90,000 shares of this agricultural products company for $112.38, generating $10.11 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Monsanto Company here.

3. ServiceNow, Inc. (NOW): $65.45

Shares of this software-as-a-service provider were sold by 2 insiders:

• Chief Product Officer Frederic B. Luddy sold 151,400 shares for $59.74, generating $9.04 million from the sale. 1,400 of these shares were sold indirectly by Mr. Luddy’s spouse and 50,000 shares were sold indirectly by Frederic B. Luddy CRT, LLC.
• Chief Financial Officer Michael Scarpelli sold 10,000 shares for $60.00, generating $600,000 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for ServiceNow, Inc. here.

4. Salesforce.com, Inc (CRM): $59.57

Shares of this software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider were sold by 4 insiders:

• Chairman of the Board & CEO Marc Benioff sold 100,000 shares for $57.28, generating $5.73 million from the sale.
• Co-Founder Parker Harris sold 11,333 shares for $56.99, generating $645,819 from the sale.These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Chief Operating Officer George Hu sold 10,500 shares for $56.50, generating $593,236 from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Pres, Applications & Platform Alexandre Dayon sold 2,504 shares for $56.67, generating $141,914 from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Salesforce.com, Inc here.

5. SolarCity Corporation (SCTY): $54.25

Shares of this solar systems installer were sold by 2 insiders:

• Chief Technology Officer Peter J. Rive sold 125,000 shares for $52.47, generating $6.56 million from the sale. 37,500 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• EVP, General Counsel Seth R. Weissman sold 7,000 shares for $53.12, generating $371,866 from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for SolarCity Corporation here.

You can view the full list of sales from this Insider Sales page.