Insider Buying at Life Storage (LSI), Plus Prominent Insider Selling at MDU Resources (MDU) and 3 Other Companies

As the market surges to new highs, insider selling has surged with it. A report issued by Argus Research last week showed that the ratio of insider selling to insider buying transactions had reached its highest level in over a year, which preceded a prolonged market slump. Furthermore, data released by S&P Global Market Intelligence shows that the trailing price-to-earnings ratio of the market has ballooned to 23.3-times, the second-highest level ever, beaten only by the tech bubble of 2000.

Given that, it’s unsurprising that insiders are growing more cautious as many of their companies reach new highs and valuation multiples. We witnessed that caution again today as we poured over the recent filings from insiders, which were predominantly sales transactions. In this daily insider trading article, we’ll take a look at five of those prominent filings, which includes one company with insider buying and four with insider selling.

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More Insider Buying at Life Storage Inc (NYSE:LSI)

We’ll start with Life Storage Inc (NYSE:LSI), which had the lone case of insider buying activity which we’ll cover in this article. Arthur L. Havener Jr., a Director on the company’s Board, bought 600 shares at a price tag of $88.55 each on Wednesday, lifting his direct ownership stake to 2,563 shares. The purchase is the latest in a string of recent insider purchases at the company, which included two other purchases of a total of 870 shares by Mr. Havener himself last week. Director Mark Barberio and Independent Director Stephen Rusmisel have also purchased shares this month, 1,800 in total.

The heightened insider buying comes amid Life Storage Inc (NYSE:LSI) shares slumping heavily in August, with them trading down by 13.72% this month. The REIT, formerly known as Uncle Bob’s Self Storage and trading under the name Sovran Self Storage and the ticker symbol SSS, was rebranded earlier this month. The company manages over 650 self-storage facilities totaling over 45 million square feet of storage space. Life Storage was downgraded by Jefferies to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ on August 10, while the target price on the stock was slashed to $100 from $135, which contributed to some of the recent selling pressure on the stock. Life Storage had enjoyed a steady run-up coming out of the financial crisis, gaining over 500% during the seven-year period between March 13, 2009 and March 11, 2016. 22 hedge funds in our database were shareholders of Life Storage on June 30.

Insider Selling Continues at Parsley Energy Inc. (NYSE:PE)

Parsley Energy Inc. (NYSE:PE) has registered more insider selling, coming on the heels of a cluster of insider selling activity that we reported on two weeks ago. Vice President and COO Matthew Gallagher sold a total of 45,000 shares between Monday and Wednesday, at prices that fell between $33.70 and $34.06 per share. The VP now holds a direct ownership stake of 597,406 class A shares, as well as 1.00 million class B voting shares which have no economic rights.

It’s not surprising to see some insider selling at the energy company, whose shares have gained 84% this year and enjoyed another spike in early-August that preceded the recent wave of selling activity. Parsley Energy Inc. (NYSE:PE)’s strong second quarter results provided the impetus for that pop, as its adjusted earnings of $0.04 per share trounced estimates that been predicting a slight loss. The company also enjoyed a surge in production output during the quarter, to the tune of a 60% year-over-year increase to 35,700 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Amy Minella‘s Cardinal Capital opened a Parsley Energy stake containing 1.60 million shares during the second quarter.

We’ll check out the noteworthy insider selling activity at three other companies on the next page.

Insider Goes Wild Selling Shares of MDU Resources Group Inc (NYSE:MDU)

There’s been a veritable cornucopia (and I don’t bandy that word about very often) of insider selling at MDU Resources Group Inc (NYSE:MDU) this month, all of it from one man: Thomas Everist, Independent Director and Chairman of MDU’s Compensation Committee. Mr. Everist has sold a grand total of 300,000 shares in 30,000-share increments spread across ten separate transactions over the past two weeks. Mr. Everist owns 770,000 shares indirectly through a Corporation and 79,572 shares directly. He also owns 32,521 shares of phantom stock, to be settled for cash upon his retirement.

Shares of MDU Resources Group Inc (NYSE:MDU), which has pipeline, construction, and utilities operations, have gained 30% in 2016. The company has paid a quarterly stock dividend every quarter for the past 78 years, and those dividend payments currently equate to an annual dividend yield of 3.14%. MDU beat second quarter earnings estimates by $0.03, pulling in $0.24 per share, but missed revenue estimates by $30 million with $1.04 billion in sales. Jim Simons’ quant fund Renaissance Technologies slashed the size of its MDU holding by 84% during the second quarter, leaving it with 157,150 shares.

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Cluster of Selling Activity at Gigamon Inc (NYSE:GIMO)

Gigamon Inc (NYSE:GIMO) has also registered a sizable cluster of insider selling in recent weeks as shares have surged by 45% over the past three-month period. Helmut Wilke, Senior Vice President – Worldwide Sales, sold 4,000 shares on Wednesday at an average price of $45.24 per share, lowering his direct ownership stake to 69,113 shares. The latest sale comes on the heels of voluminous insider selling at the company dating back to August 1, which has seen multiple Directors and Executives unload over 300,000 shares of Gigamon.

Gigamon Inc (NYSE:GIMO), which is not a Pokemon Go creature, provides network traffic and security solutions. CEO Paul Hooper, who sold 45,000 of the aforementioned 300,000+ shares, was recently named one of the Top 100 Executives by CRN, while Gigamon itself was recognized on the company’s Security 100 list in March. Anand Parekh’s Alyeska Investment Group initiated a 378,134-share stake in Gigamon during the second quarter.

Way Too Many Insider Sales Transactions at Credit Acceptance Corp. (NASDAQ:CACC)

Major shareholder of Credit Acceptance Corp. (NASDAQ:CACC), Jill Foss Watson, has recorded dozens of insider transactions over the past month, in her capacity as the trustee of several Trusts. Most recently, 30,872 of the various Trusts’ shares were sold over the past two days, leaving them with a combined 2.48 million shares. She also has indirect ownership of 2,146 shares owned by her son.

A top finance stock pick of BloombergSen, Credit Acceptance Corp. (NASDAQ:CACC) shares have been volatile this year and are trading down by 6% in 2016. A provider of financing programs to auto dealerships, the company’s volume per dealer fell by 1.8% during the second quarter, while its forecasted collection loan percentage declined for the seventh-straight year as of June 30, to 66.5% from a high of 79.5% in 2009. Annualized adjusted return on capital also slid to 11.9% as of June 30, from 13.6% on September 30, 2014.

Disclosure: None