Insider buying increased last week with insiders buying $177.89 million of stock compared to $100.55 million in the week prior. Selling also increased with insiders selling $3.01 billion of stock last week compared to $1.91 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 decreased to 16.94. In other words, insiders sold  17 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 19.04. 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 August 19, 2016

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. Medpace Holdings, Inc. (MEDP): $28.53

Shares of this scientifically-driven outsourced clinical development services provider were acquired by 2 insiders:

• President & CEO August J. Troendle acquired 879,565 shares, paying $23.06 per share for a total amount of $20.28 million. Mr. Troendle increased his stake by 257.29% to 1,221,416 shares with this purchase. 869,565 of these shares were purchased during the IPO and 10,000 shares were purchased indirectly for Mr. Troendle’s son.
• Sr. Vice President, Operations Susan E. Burwig acquired 19,211 shares, paying $29.21 per share for a total amount of $561,082.

Medpace priced at the higher end of its IPO range of $20 to $23 on August 11th and was up over 30% from its IPO price over the next three days before settling down for a gain of 24% through the end of last week. The 10,000 shares purchase Dr. Troendle made for his son was at $27.98/share, well above the IPO price.

Dr. Troendle founded Medpace in 1992 and it is interesting that the company is going public 24 years later with the founder still at the helm. For a company that is no longer a spring chicken, revenue for the first six months of 2016 grew over 20% when compared to the same period last year. You can read the full S-1 filing here.

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

2. Penske Automotive Group, Inc. (PAG): $42.57

Chairman & CEO Roger S. Penske acquired 50,000 shares of this auto dealer, paying $41.36 per share for a total amount of $2.07 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Penske Automotive Holdings Corp.

This is the third week in a row purchases by the CEO have made our list of notable insider purchases.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Penske Automotive Group, Inc. here.

3. Cavium, Inc. (CAVM): $55.03

Shares of this semiconductor company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Chief Operating Officer Muhammad Raghib Hussain acquired 20,000 shares, paying $51.85 per share for a total amount of $1.04 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through various trusts.
• VP Finance & Admin CFO Arthur D. Chadwick acquired 10,000 shares, paying $51.94 per share for a total amount of $519,400. Mr. Chadwick increased his stake by 10.77% to 102,845 shares with this purchase.

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

4. Cheniere Energy, Inc. (LNG): $45

President and CEO Jack A. Fusco acquired 34,223 shares of this liquefied natural gas company, paying $43.83 per share for a total amount of $1.49 million. Mr. Fusco increased his stake by 11.84% to 323,292 shares with this purchase. 17,111 of these shares were purchased indirectly by Fusco Energy Investments, LLP.

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

5. LB Foster Co. (FSTR): $11.31

Shares of this railroads company were acquired by 3 insiders:

• Director Bradley Vizi acquired 110,272 shares, paying $10.34 per share for a total amount of $1.14 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Legion Partners, L.P.
• Director Robert S. Purgason acquired 10,000 shares, paying $11.24 per share for a total amount of $112,400. Mr. Purgason increased his stake by 55.82% to 27,915 shares with this purchase.
• President and CEO Robert P. Bauer acquired 3,000 shares, paying $9.56 per share for a total amount of $28,690. Mr. Bauer increased his stake by 4.56% to 68,850 shares with this purchase. 2,000 of these shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for LB Foster Co. here.

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Activision Blizzard, Inc. (ATVI): $39.98

Shares of this video game software company were sold by 4 insiders:

• Director Brian G. Kelly sold 8,928,376 shares for $40.51, generating $361.69 million, from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through various trusts and other entities.
• President and CEO Robert A. Kotick sold 8,571,624 shares for $40.51, generating $347.24 million from the sale. 3,982,849 of these shares were sold indirectly by ASAC II LLC.
• Chief Operating Officer Thomas Tippl sold 44,427 shares for $41.83, generating $1.86 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Chief Executive Officer, King Riccardo Zacconi sold 19,761 shares for $39.63, generating $783,097 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 Activision Blizzard, Inc. here.

2. Wingstop Inc. (WING): $31.01

Director Neal K. Aronson sold 6,000,000 shares of this restaurant chain for $28.50, generating $171 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by by RC II WS LLC.

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

3. World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE): $20.93

Shares of this entertainment company were sold by 3 insiders:

• Chief Executive Officer Vincent K. McMahon sold 1,547,372 shares for $19.32, generating $29.89 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Executive Producer & Chief Glo Kevin Dunn sold 56,000 shares for $20.55, generating $1.15 million from the sale.
• Chief Revenue & Marketing Off Michelle D. Wilson sold 27,900 shares for $20.88, generating $582,552 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. here.

4. Apple Inc. (AAPL): $109.36

Shares of Apple were sold by 4 insiders:

• Senior Vice President Craig Federighi sold 90,153 shares for $109.15, generating $9.84 million from the sale.
• SVP, Gen’l Counsel, Secretary D. Bruce Sewell sold 24,000 shares for $110.11, generating $2.64 million from the sale.
• Senior Vice President, CFO Luca Maestri sold 11,021 shares for $108.93, generating $1.2 million from the sale.
• Senior Vice President Johny Srouji sold 9,827 shares for $108.44, generating $1.07 million from the sale.

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

5. ServiceNow, Inc. (NOW): $73.69

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

• Chief Product Officer Frederic B. Luddy sold 154,000 shares for $75.67, generating $11.65 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.
• Chief Revenue Officer David Schneider sold 2,803 shares for $75.53, generating $211,711 from the sale.

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

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