Long-Serving Director at Re-Organized Diversified Holding Company Initiates Stake Amid Fraud Allegations; Other Noteworthy Insider Trading

Long-Serving Director at Recently Re-Organized Diversified Holding Company Initiates Stake

One member of Live Ventures Inc. (NASDAQ:LIVE)’s Board of Directors initiated a stake in the company this past week. Dennis Gao, who has served as a director of the company since January 2012, acquired a 9,721-share stake on Thursday at prices varying from $19.28 to $19.85 per share.

A few years ago, Live Ventures Inc. (NASDAQ:LIVE) started a strategic shift in its business plan away from offering online marketing solutions to acquiring profitable companies in various industries. The company’s shares plummeted on January 6 this year, after Seeking Alpha published an article alleging that Live Ventures paid as much as $2 million to stock promoters to hype the company and that the company boosted the bottom-line figure with several one-time discretionary accounting gains. Live Ventures reported its first full year of profitability for the first time in nine years, reporting nearly $80 million in revenue and $17.8 million in net income for the 2016 fiscal year. The long-serving director’s purchase may possibly alleviate some concerns in the market and signal an attractive entry point for investors. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Advisors LLC sold its 2,062-share stake in Live Ventures Inc. (NASDAQ:LIVE) during the third quarter.

Board Member of Stellar Distributor of Commodity and Specialty Chemicals Buys Shares

A member of Univar Inc. (NYSE:UNVR)’s boardroom also bought a block of shares last week. Board member Edward J. Mooney snatched up a 3,500-share stake on Friday at prices that fell between $29.33 and $29.38 per share, a stake held directly by a trust fund called the Edward J. Mooney 1992 Trust. Mr. Mooney also holds a direct ownership stake of 7,462 shares.

The shares of the global distributor of commodity and specialty chemicals have gained 121% in the past year, recovering from a massive slide since its June 2015 IPO due to lower demand from the oil and gas markets. Univar Inc. (NYSE:UNVR)’s net sales for the September quarter were $2.00 billion, down by $206.6 million year-over-year. Despite completing a number of acquisitions, the company’s net sales decreased from reductions in sales of upstream oil and gas products driven by reduced market demand. The number of asset managers from our system with equity stakes in Univar rose to 24 from 17 during the third quarter. John A. Levin’s Levin Capital Strategies L.P. held 1.15 million shares of Univar Inc. (NYSE:UNVR) at the end of September.

The final page of this article will discuss some insider selling reported with the SEC on Friday.