What Has Propelled Insiders to Cash Out of These Strong-Performing Stocks?

ResMed Inc. (NYSE:RMD) saw one of its executives unload a sizable block of shares last week. Donald Darkin, who has served as President of Innovation and Operations since December 2014, sold 25,442 shares on Thursday at a price of $57.72 per share. The executive also disposed of 592 shares a day earlier for tax withholding obligations. After the recent transactions, Donald Darkin holds an ownership stake of 13,684 shares. The shares of the developer of medical equipment for treating and diagnosing sleep-disordered breathing and other respiratory disorders are up by slightly over 2% for the year. Just recently, ResMed reported third quarter net revenue of $411.6 million, which was up by 8% year-over-year, and up by 15% on a constant currency basis. However, its net income came to $80.4 million, compared to $83.3 million reported last year. It is also worth pointing out that the stock seems to be fairly valued at the moment if considering its trailing P/E ratio of 23.40, which compares to 22.70 for the S&P 500. ResMed received more attention from the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey during the second quarter, as the number of money managers with positions in the company climbed to 18 from 13 quarter-over-quarter. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies added a 1.36 million-share position in ResMed Inc. (NYSE:RMD) to its portfolio during the third quarter.

Finally, we will check out the insider trading activity at visual computing company NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA). Director A. Brooke Seawell reported selling 40,000 shares last Monday at a weighted average price of $31.12, all of which were held by trust fund A. Brooke Seawell TTEE, Rosemary Warner Seawell TTEE, Rosemary & A. Brooke Seawell Revocable Trust. After the recent sale, the trust fund owns 160,000 shares. The shares of the graphics chip company are 48% in the green year-to-date, and are currently trading at a trailing P/E ratio of 27.85. Even so, most investors should ignore the P/E ratio of the company given its promising future potential. NVIDIA develops graphics processors that generate realistic graphics for PC games. The company’s business has been steadily growing despite its high reliance on the struggling PC market. Even so, NVIDIA’s flourishing source of growth may come from the automotive industry, thanks to its Tegra mobile system-on-a-chip products. The number of hedge funds with positions in the visual computing company declined to 30 from 34 during the second quarter. David Harding’s Winton Capital Management was bullish on NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) during the September quarter, ending the three-month period with 3.36 million shares.

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