Happy New Year and welcome to edition 289 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying decreased last week with insiders buying $42.25 million of stock compared to $60.29 million in the week prior. Selling also decreased with insiders selling $359.11 million of stock last week compared to $522.92 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 dropped to 8.49. In other words, insiders sold more than 8 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 8.67. 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.

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. Prospect Capital Corporation (PSEC): $6.98

Shares of this business development company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Chief Executive Officer John F. Barry acquired 2,061,424 shares, paying $7.26 per share for a total amount of $14.97 million. Mr. Barry increased his stake by 18.89% to 12,971,606 shares with this purchase.
• Chief Operating Officer Grier M. Eliasek acquired 50,000 shares, paying $7.10 per share for a total amount of $355,000. Mr. Eliasek increased his stake by 8.66% to 627,196 shares with this purchase.

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

2. EXCO Resources Inc. (XCO): $1.24

Director John C. Wilder Jr. acquired 1,629,144 shares of this independent oil and natural gas company, paying $1.17 per share for a total amount of $1.91 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Energy Strategic Advisory Services LLC.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for EXCO Resources Inc. here.

3. FS Investment Corporation (FSIC): $8.99

Chief Executive Officer Michael C. Forman acquired 85,110 shares of this business development company, paying $9.17 per share for a total amount of $780,181. These shares were purchased indirectly through Franklin Square Holdings, L.P.

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

4. Layne Christensen Company (LAYN): $5.26

Shares of this water management, construction and drilling company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Director Nelson Obus acquired 191,467 shares, paying $4.91 per share for a total amount of $940,708. Mr. Obus increased his stake by 57.10% to 526,805 shares with this purchase.
• Chairman, CEO and President David A. Brown acquired 15,000 shares, paying $4.79 per share for a total amount of $71,838. Mr. Brown increased his stake by 42.60% to 50,213 shares with this purchase.

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

5. Chimerix, Inc. (CMRX): $8.95

Shares of this biotech company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Director Ernest Mario acquired 125,000 shares, paying $7.09 per share for a total amount of $886,612. Mr. Mario increased his stake by 90.82% to 262,637 shares with this purchase.
• Director Clarence Patrick Machado acquired 10,000 shares, paying $7.08 per share for a total amount of $70,846.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (PANW): $176.14

Director James J. Goetz sold 110,700 shares of this network security company for $176.23, generating $19.51 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by The Zteog Foundation.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Palo Alto Networks, Inc. here.

2. Salesforce.com, Inc. (CRM): $78.4

Shares of this software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider were sold by 5 insiders:

• President and Vice Chairman Keith Block sold 116,606 shares for $77.99, generating $9.09 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Chairman of the Board & CEO Marc Benioff sold 62,500 shares for $78.69, generating $4.92 million from the sale.
• Chief Financial Officer Mark J. Hawkins sold 8,624 shares for $77.67, generating $669,824 from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Pres., Sales & Cust. Success Maria Martinez sold 501 shares for $77.66, generating $38,908 from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Director John Victor Roos sold 267 shares for $78.50, generating $20,960 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for salesforce.com, inc. here.

3. Celgene Corporation (CELG): $119.76

Shares of this biotech company were sold by 2 insiders:

• Director Ernest Mario sold 40,000 shares for $119.36, generating $4.77 million from the sale.
• Director Michael D. Casey sold 20,000 shares for $122.11, generating $2.44 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.

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

4. Hawaiian Holdings Inc. (HA): $35.33

Director Zac Hirzel sold 157,870 shares of this airline company for $37.38, generating $5.9 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Hirzel Capital.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Hawaiian Holdings Inc. here.

5. Accenture plc (ACN): $104.5

Shares of this management and technology consulting company were sold by 2 insiders:

• Chairman & CEO Pierre Nanterme sold 49,434 shares for $104.16, generating $5.15 million from the sale.
• Grp Chief Exec-Health & PS Daniel T. London sold 891 shares for $104.99, generating $93,544 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Accenture plc here.

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