A Look at Some Noteworthy Insider Purchases and Sales

The COO of Activision Blizzard Discarded a Massive Block of Shares Last Week

Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI)’s Chief Operating Officer, Thomas Tippl, sold a huge amount of 300,000 shares last Monday at prices that fell between $38.60 and $39.48 per share, all of which were held by the Thomas and Laura Tippl Family Trust. Following the massive sell-off, Mr. Tippl’s family trust continues to own 596,928 shares.

The shares of the developer and publisher of interactive entertainment have advanced 227% in the past five years and 47% in the past year alone, so Mr. Tipple might have decided to diversify his family’s holdings. In late February, Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) completed its previously-announced acquisition of King Digital Entertainment plc, an interactive entertainment company that develops games on Android and iOS mobile platforms, as well as on online and social platforms such as Facebook and king.com websites. King shareholders received $18.00 in cash per each share of King owned. Daniel S. Och’s OZ Management added a 4.81 million-share position in Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) to its portfolio of holdings during the March quarter.

Republic Services’ CEO Unloaded Shares Last Week Near 52-Week High

Donald W. Slager, Chief Executive Officer and President of Republic Services Inc. (NYSE:RSG), discarded 81,800 shares on May 13 at an average price of $48.53 and 24,312 shares on May 16 at an average sale price of $48.46. Following the not-so-distant sales, Mr. Slager currently owns 208,397 shares of Republic Services.

The shares of the second-largest provider of services in the domestic non-hazardous solid waste industry are currently trading near their 52-week high of $48.96 reached on May 13, so Mr. Slager’s decision to offload some shares does not seem surprising at all. The stock is 8% in the green year-to-date. Republic Services Inc. (NYSE:RSG)’s first-quarter revenue grew 3.6% year-over-year to $2.25 billion due to strong pricing and volume growth. The hedge fund sentiment towards the stock increased in the January-to-March period, as the number of hedge funds from our system with stakes in the company climbed to 28 from 21 quarter-over-quarter. Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management reported owning 2.62 million shares of Republic Services Inc. (NYSE:RSG) in its latest 13F filing.

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