Insider Selling at U.S. Financial Services Company, Executive at Struggling Beauty-Product Maker Buys Shares, and Other Insider Trading

Cluster of Insider Selling at U.S. Financial Services Company

A number of corporate insiders at Ameriprise Financial Inc. (NYSE:AMP) offloaded shares during the course of the previous week, so this section will discuss a few sales. To start with, Chief Executive Officer James M. Cracchiolo discarded a total of 54,110 shares on Friday at prices between $123.45 and $124.51 per share, trimming his ownership to 297,309 shares. Walter S. Berman, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, offloaded 19,000 shares a day earlier at prices ranging from $122.97 to $123.11 per share, a sale that cut his overall holding to 11,836 shares. Moreover, Joseph E. Sweeney, President – Advice & Wealth Management, Products and Service Delivery, sold 2,440 shares on Thursday at $123.70 apiece. Mr. Sweeney currently owns 15,314 shares after the Thursday sale.

The shares of the U.S. financial services company have jumped 15% year-to-date and 54% in the past year alone, which could explain the spike in insider selling. Ameriprise Financial Inc. (NYSE:AMP) recently reported operating net revenues of $2.9 billion for the December quarter, which decreased by 1% year-over-year. Strong net revenue growth in Advice & Wealth Management due to growth in client assets was offset by lower Asset Management revenue, reflecting outflows, foreign exchange translation and high performance fees a year ago. Daniel S. Och’s OZ Management added a 250,000-share position in Ameriprise Financial Inc. (NYSE:AMP) to its pool of holdings during the fourth quarter.

Executive at High-Flying Iteris Sell Out Entire Stake

One member of Iteris Inc. (NASDAQ:ITI)’s executive team liquidated his entire ownership stake at the beginning of the week. Thomas N. Blair, Senior Vice President of Performance Analytics since July 2012, sold out his entire stake of 32,925 shares on Monday at prices varying from $4.90 to $5.02 per share.

Iteris Inc. (NASDAQ:ITI), a leader in applied informatics for transportation and agriculture, has seen its market capitalization increase by 124% in the past year, which was what possibly encouraged the executive to sell shares. The main driver of the company’s growth represents spending and Iteris’ management says there is a shift in transportation infrastructure spending already. The company’s total revenue for the quarter that ended December increased by 19% year-on-year to $22.7 million. Nonetheless, Iteris reported a wider operating loss than a year ago, posting $1.5 million in operating loss versus $1.1 million in the same quarter of the previous year. Renaissance Technologies LLC owns 649,100 shares of Iteris Inc. (NASDAQ:ITI) as of December 31.

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