Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) and Two Other Companies Record Massive Insider Selling

Western Alliance Recorded Cluster of Insider Selling Last Week

Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) registered a cluster of insider selling last week, so let’s take a brief look at the most noteworthy insider sales. To start with, Board member William S. Boyd sold 15,219 shares on Wednesday and 4,531 shares on Thursday at prices varying from $37.00 to $37.39 per share, all of which were held through the William S. Boyd trust fund that continues to own a stake of 4.04 million shares. Mr. Boyd also holds a direct ownership stake of 9,500 shares. More importantly, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert Gary Sarver discarded 94,646 shares on Tuesday at a weighted average price of $36.92 per share, which cut his direct ownership stake to 1.16 million shares. Moreover, Robert Reoch McAuslan, sold 10,000 shares a day earlier at prices that fell in the range of $36.49 to $36.51 per share. After the recent sale, Mr. McAuslan continues to hold a 43,323-share stake.

Just recently, the Arizona-based bank holding company completed the previously-announced acquisition of the $1.4 billion domestic select-service franchise finance loan portfolio from General Electric Company (NYSE:GE)’s GE Capital US Holdings, as part of GE’s strategy to divest its finance arm. The loan portfolio, which was purchased for $1.28 billion, does not contain non-performing loans and has a yield of 4.8%. Shares of Western Alliance have advanced 18% in the past 12 months and change hands at around 12.6-times expected earnings, versus the forward P/E multiple of 12.0 for the regional banks sector. The number of money managers from our system with stakes in Western Alliance declined to 22 from 28 during the December quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management owned 2.01 million shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) at the end of December.

Disclosure: None