Massive Cluster of Insider Selling at Top-Performing Chip-Gear Maker, Plus Other Noteworthy Insider Trading

Massive Cluster of Insider Selling at Top-Performing Chip-Gear Maker

Let’s have a brief look at a cluster of insider selling at Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT), where four different insiders offloaded shares over the past week or so. To start with, Thomas F. Larkins, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, sold 75,000 shares on Tuesday and 25,000 shares on Wednesday at prices varying from $31.66 to $32.29 per share. Mr. Larkins currently owns an aggregate of 457,782 shares following the recent sale. Board member Dennis D. Powell offloaded 21,017 shares on Tuesday at a weighted average price of $31.95 per share, cutting his overall holding to 77,190 shares. Omkaram Nalamasu, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, offloaded 16,841 shares on Friday at prices that fell between $32.35 and $32.37 per share, a sale that trimmed Dr. Nalamasu’s ownership to 326,611 shares. Last but not least, Board member Stephen R. Forrest discarded 4,800 shares last Thursday at $31.86 apiece, after which he currently owns 84,159 shares.

The shares of semiconductor equipment maker Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) are trading slightly below their 52-week high of $33.68, which possibly explains the spike in insider selling at the company. After all, Applied Materials was one of the five top-performing stocks in the S&P 500 last year and has gained an impressive 81% in the past 12 months. Just recently, analysts at Goldman Sachs downgraded the chip-gear marker to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’, citing stock price outperformance. “While we remain very bullish on management’s ability to identify technology inflections, appropriately allocate resources and to ultimately gain share and deliver above-industry-average growth, we view risk-return to be fair at current levels post the +74% stock price move in calendar 2016,” said Goldman Sachs analysts in a recent note. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Advisors LLC was the equity holder of 7.07 million shares of Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) at the end of September.

Executive at Leading Operator of Entertainment and Dining Venues Unloads Shares

There was some noteworthy insider selling at Dave & Buster’s Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAY) this week as well. Jay L. Tobin, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, liquidated 20,000 shares on Tuesday at prices ranging from $55.24 to $56.02 per share, as well as offered 1,000 shares as a bona-fide gift. Following these transactions, Mr. Tobin currently owns a stake of 81,071 shares.

The operator of high-volume entertainment and dinning venues in North America for adults and families under the name “Dave & Buster’s” has seen the value of its shares advance by 47% in the past three months. The strong stock performance has been driven by outstanding business performance, as Dave & Buster’s Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAY) saw its third-quarter revenue jump by 18.6% year-on-year to $228.7 million. Meanwhile, the company’s comparable store revenue rose by 5.9% year-over-year in the third quarter, somewhat lower than the gain of 8.8% in the third quarter of 2015. Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management owned 1.18 million shares of Dave & Buster’s Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAY) on September 30.

Disclosure: None