Does Insider Selling Point to More Trouble for Exxon, Primerica, and Campbell Soup?

Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB) has recently witnessed insider trading activity for the first time in 2015. President and Chief Executive Officer Denise M. Morrison discarded 79,250 shares on Friday at a weighted average price of $53.07. The CEO currently holds an ownership stake of 495,216 shares. The shares of the manufacturer and marketer of branded convenience food products have advanced by nearly 21% since the beginning of the year and are trading at a price level not seen since 1998. At the end of November, Credit Suisse lifted its price target on Campbell Soup to $50 from $48, but reiterated its ‘Underperform’ rating, citing better-than-expected fiscal year 2016 first quarter earnings results. Even so, Credit Suisse’s analysts still anticipate restrained sales growth. Meanwhile, the stock is trading at a relatively rich trailing P/E ratio of 25.53, which might explain the CEO’s decision to cash out a portion of her holdings. The company’s adjusted gross margin strengthened significantly year-over-year despite facing cost inflation, mainly owing to productivity improvements, higher selling prices, enhanced supply chain performance and lower promotional spending. The food manufacturing company received more attention from the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey during the third quarter, as the number of smart money investors with positions in the company climbed to 25 from 20 quarter-over-quarter. Renaissance Technologies acquired a 234,400 share-stake in Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB) during the September quarter.

Last but not least, Primerica Inc. (NYSE:PRI)’s Director Donald R. Williams reported selling 28,239 shares on Tuesday at $49.74 apiece, trimming his overall holdings to 20,791 shares. Slightly more than a week ago, another Member of the company’s Board of Directors also discarded some shares, but the sale was conducted under a trading plan. The shares of the distributor of financial products to middle income households in the U.S and Canada have embarked on a wobbly upward trend since August, but are still down by 5% for the year. Nonetheless, shares of Primerica have gained 121% over the past five years. Despite that, they still look quite attractive if solely looking at the company’s trailing P/E ratio of 14.36. Primerica’s third quarter investment and savings products sales decreased by 1% year-over-year to roughly $1.4 billion, which might reflect the slower pace of the U.S jobs market. 15 hedge funds monitored by our team were invested in the company at the end of the third quarter, and had accumulated 11.90% of its outstanding common stock at that time. Glenn Greenberg’s Brave Warrior Capital owns 3.11 million shares of Primerica Inc. (NYSE:PRI) as of September 30.

Disclosure: None