Welcome to edition 310 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying increased last week with insiders buying $88.99 million of stock compared to $75.93 million in the week prior. Selling increased with insiders selling $2.28 billion of stock last week compared to $2.17 billion 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 25.62. In other words, insiders sold more than 25 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 28.53. 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. First Data Corporation (FDC): $12.5

Director Joseph J. Plumeri acquired 250,000 shares of this electronic commerce solutions provider, paying $12.30 per share for a total amount of $3.07 million. Mr. Plumeri increased his stake by 109.33% to 478,664 shares with this purchase.

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

2. General Electric Company (GE): $30.12

Chairman and CEO Jeffrey R. Immelt acquired 67,600 shares of General Electric, paying $29.59 per share for a total amount of $2 million. Mr. Immelt increased his stake by 3.23% to 2,158,688 shares with this purchase.

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

3. Biglari Holdings Inc. (BH): $401.38

Director Sardar Biglari, acquired 3,126 shares of this restaurant holding company, paying $378.85 per share for a total amount of $1.18 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by The Lion Fund.

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

4. TICC Capital Corp. (TICC): $5.6

Shares of this business development company were acquired by 4 insiders:

• Chief Executive Officer Jonathan H. Cohen acquired 71,640 shares, paying $5.55 per share for a total amount of $397,721. Mr. Cohen increased his stake by 13.85% to 588,738 shares with this purchase.
• President and COO Saul B. Rosenthal acquired 71,640 shares, paying $5.55 per share for a total amount of $397,721. Mr. Rosenthal increased his stake by 22.80% to 385,875 shares with this purchase.
• Director Charles M. Royce acquired 35,820 shares, paying $5.55 per share for a total amount of $198,861. Mr. Royce increased his stake by 16.36% to 254,726 shares with this purchase.
• Director Steven P. Novak acquired 2,000 shares, paying $5.26 per share for a total amount of $10,520. These shares were acquired indirectly by Mr. Novak’s spouse.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for TICC Capital Corp. here.

5. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF): $27.7

Shares of this agricultural chemicals company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Director Robert C. Arzbaecher acquired 17,275 shares, paying $28.10 per share for a total amount of $485,386. Mr. Arzbaecher increased his stake by 34.85% to 66,843 shares with this purchase. 275 of these shares were acquired indirectly by Mr. Arzbaecher’s daughter.
• Sr. VP, Manufacturing Christopher D. Bohn acquired 12,500 shares, paying $27.92 per share for a total amount of $349,056. Mr. Bohn increased his stake by 65.04% to 31,718 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for CF Industries Holdings, Inc. here.

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Facebook, Inc. (FB): $119.38

Shares of Facebook were sold by 4 insiders:

• Director Jan Koum sold 594,246 shares for $117.12, generating $69.59 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.
• Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg sold 109,000 shares for $119.15, generating $12.99 million from the sale. 52,404 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Chief Financial Officer David M. Wehner sold 5,265 shares for $117.07, generating $616,374 from the sale.
• Director Susan Desmond-Hellmann sold 2,514 shares for $117.07, generating $294,314 from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.

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

2. TechTarget, Inc. (TTGT): $8

Director Jay C. Hoag sold 2,250,000 shares of this publishing company for $8.25, generating $18.56 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly  through various Technology Crossover Venture (TCV) funds.

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

3. Q2 Holdings, Inc. (QTWO): $24.96

Shares of this cloud-based virtual banking solutions provider were sold by 3 insiders:

• Director Michael Maurice Brown sold 500,000 shares for $22.50, generating $11.25 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Battery Ventures IX, L.P.
• Director Charles T. Doyle sold 4,200 shares for $25.00, generating $105,000 from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Texas Independent Bancshares, Inc.
• Director R. H. Seale sold 3,794 shares for $25.00, generating $94,850 from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by RHS Investments-I, L.P.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Q2 Holdings, Inc. here.

4. Apple Inc. (AAPL): $100.35

SVP, General Counsel, Secretary D. Bruce Sewell sold 103,300 shares of Apple for $96.78, generating $9.99 million from the sale.

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

5. Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP): $50.99

Shares of this semiconductor company were sold by 6 insiders:

• President, CEO, Chairman Steve Sanghi sold 176,647 shares for $49.75, generating $8,788,140 from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.
• Director Matthew W. Chapman sold 10,000 shares for $47.92, generating $479,200 from the sale. 9,738 of these shares were sold indirectly through a trust.
• VP, MCU8 Division Stephen V. Drehobl sold 3,916 shares for $48.71, generating $190,748 from the sale.
• VP, WW Sales and Appns. Mitchell R. Little sold 3,039 shares for $48.71, generating $148,030 from the sale.
• VP, Analog and Intrfc Prod Div Richard J. Simoncic sold 2,679 shares for $48.71, generating $130,494 from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.
• VP and CFO James Eric Bjornholt sold 2,164 shares for $48.71, generating $105,408 from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Microchip Technology Inc. here.

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