Welcome to edition 194 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying increased last week with insiders purchasing $81.57 million of their stock compared to $42.18 million in the week prior. Selling also increased with insiders selling $2.6 billion of stock last week compared to $1.84 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 31.88. In other words, insiders sold almost 32 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 43.73. 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 March 7, 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:

Some of the insider purchases that did not make the top 5 list but are worth exploring includepurchases by two insiders of financial software company Liquid Holdings Group (LIQD),  a $1.1 million purchase by the CFO of Harsco (HSC) and a 100,000 share purchase by a director of digital advertising firm YuMe (YUME).

1. Solar Capital Ltd. (SLRC): $22.31

COO and Director Bruce J. Spohler acquired 78,989 shares of this business development company, paying $22.27 per share for a total amount of $1.76 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Solar Capital Investors, LLC.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Solar Capital Ltd. here.

2. General Electric Company (GE): $26.13

Chairman and CEO Jeffrey R. Immelt acquired 104,900 shares of General Electric, paying $25.19 per share for a total amount of $2.64 million. Mr. Immelt increased his stake by 5.65% to 1,962,577 shares with this purchase.

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

3. Intrexon Corporation (XON): $26.72

SVP–Health Sector Gregory Ian Frost acquired 100,000 shares of this biotech company, paying $25.95 per share for a total amount of $2.59 million.

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

4. ICU Medical, Inc. (ICUI): $59.54

Chairman and CEO Vivek Jain acquired 30,000 shares of this medical devices company, paying $58.75 per share for a total amount of $1.76 million.

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

5. Tile Shop Holdings, Inc. (TTS): $17.07

Director Peter H. Kamin acquired 95,600 shares of this retailer and manufacturer of stone tiles, paying $15.56 per share for a total amount of $1.49 million. Mr. Kamin increased his stake by 74.42% to 224,059 shares with this purchase. 62,300 of these shares were purchased indirectly through trusts.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Juniper Networks, Inc. (JNPR): $26.26

Shares of this networking company were sold by 4 insiders:

• Director Scott Kriens sold 1,500,000 shares for $26.62, generating $39.93 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a Trust.
• EVP Chief Customer Officer Vincent Molinaro sold 45,104 shares for $26.49, generating $1.19 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Director William Stensrud sold 10,000 shares for $27.00, generating $270,000 from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a Trust.
• EVP Platform Sys Div Rami Rahim sold 3,000 shares for $26.99, generating $80,980 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 Juniper Networks, Inc. here.

2. WisdomTree Investments, Inc. (WETF): $15.66

Shares of this ETF focused asset management company were sold by 2 insiders:

• Director Michael H. Steinhardt sold 1,261,939 shares for $15.72, generating $19.83 million from the sale. 294,600 of these shares were sold indirectly by The Judy and Michael Steinhardt Foundation.
• Chief Executive Officer Jonathan L. Steinberg sold 112,500 shares for $15.36, generating $1.73 million 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 WisdomTree Investments, Inc. here.

3. ServiceNow, Inc. (NOW): $67.14

Shares of this software-as-a-service provider were sold by 3 insiders:

• Chief Product Officer Frederic B. Luddy sold 151,400 shares for $69.94, generating $10.59 million from the sale. 1,400 of these shares were sold indirectly by Mr. Luddy’s spouse and 50,000 of these shares were sold indirectly by Frederic B. Luddy CRT, LLC.
• President & CEO Frank Slootman sold 120,000 shares for $66.79, generating $8.02 million from the sale.
• SVP, Development and Customer Support Daniel McGee sold 12,091 shares for $69.47, generating $839,992 from the sale.

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

4. Pernix Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. (PTX): $3.71

Chief Strategic Officer Cooper C. Collins sold 3,590,000 shares of this drug manufacturing company for $3.40, generating $12.22 million from the sale.

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

5. EXCO Resources Inc. (XCO): $5.24

Director Boone Pickens sold 2,269,100 shares of this natural gas and oil company for $5.17, generating $11.74 million from the sale.

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

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

Voluntary Disclosure: I hold long positions in Harsco (HSC) and ICU Medical (ICUI).