Microsoft Corporation (MSFT), Hawaiian Holdings Inc. (HA), and Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) Witnessing Heavy Insider Selling Activity

Hawaiian Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:HA) has also seen numerous insiders sell stock recently, but we will only discuss the insider sales that were not conducted under trading plans and do not involve recently-exercised stock options. Director Samson Poomaihealani reported selling 16,381 shares on Tuesday at a weighted average sale price of $35.02 and currently owns 22,921 shares. Barbara D. Falvey, Senior Vice President of Human Resources since July 2005, offloaded exactly 10,000 shares at prices in the range of $35.25-to-$35.26 per share, trimming her stake to 74,702 shares. The shares of the airline company have seen immense growth over the past few years, and are up 34% thus far in 2015. Just recently, Hawaiian Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:HA) announced its plans to offer a new flying experience for its business class passengers for long-haul routes. The company will install 180-degree lie-flat seats in its A330 premium cabins in an attempt to challenge Virgin America, which will begin operating flights between Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States by the end of the year. Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management added an 1.01-million position in Hawaiian Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:HA) during the second quarter.

Lastly, let’s take a thorough look at the heavy insider selling at Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST). To begin with, Principal Accounting Officer David S. Petterson sold 3,738 shares on Tuesday for $157.50 each, reducing his holding to 26,206 shares. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Richard A. Galanti unloaded 3,452 shares on the same day at a weighted average price of $157.30. After the transaction, the CFO owns 32,836 shares. Finally, Doug W. Schutt, Executive Vice President and COO-Merchandise, sold a 25,000-share block at an average sale price of $156.90, remaining with 54,840 shares. The shares of the global retailer are up 11% since the beginning of the year and are currently trading at a forward P/E ratio of 27.17, compared to the median of 18.41 for the companies included in the S&P 500. Thus, it appears that Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)’s stock is overrated at the moment if solely looking at this metric. Even so, the stock was recently upgraded by UBS to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’, while the price target was raised to $180 from $153. Only time will show which of the two camps (i.e. corporate insiders or analysts at UBS) prove to reveal the “true” potential of the company. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway was the largest shareholder of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) within our database at the end of the second quarter with 4.33 million shares.

Disclosure: None