Newfield Exploration Co. (NFX) and Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) Witness Some Noteworthy Insider Selling, Plus Three Other Companies with Insider Buying

This Provider of Microcontrollers Had Its CEO Offload Shares Massively Lately

Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHP)’s leader has been heavily discarding shares in the past several trading sessions. President and Chief Executive Officer Stephen Sanghi sold 45,000 shares on Tuesday for $51.48 each and 100,000 shares last week at prices that ranged from $50.35 to $50.66 per share, all of which were held indirectly by a trust fund and family limited partnership. Mr. Sanghi currently owns an indirect ownership stake of 4.64 million shares following the recent sales.

The shares of the Chandler-based provider of microcontrollers are up 40% in the past five years, after advancing 10% in 2016 alone. Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHP) posted net sales of $2.17 billion for fiscal 2016 that ended March 31, up by only 1.2% year-over-year. The increase was mainly driven by the acquisition of Micrel in August 2015, partly offset by weaker economic and semiconductor industry conditions. In early April, the company completed the acquisition of California-based Atmel for roughly $3.47 billion in an attempt to expand its served available market. David Harding’s Winton Capital Management reported owning nearly 394,000 shares of Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHP) in its latest 13F.

Newfield Exploration Co. (NYSE:NFX) Saw Two Executives Unload Shares Last Week

To begin with, President and Chief Executive Officer Lee K. Boothby discarded 50,000 shares on Thursday at prices that fell between $40.80 and $41.17 per share, cutting his overall holding to 298,596 shares. Senior Vice President of Operations, John H. Jasek, sold 25,000 shares on the same day at a weighted average sale price of $40.93. After the not-so-distant sale, Mr. Jasek continues to own 105,149 shares.

The independent energy company has seen its market capitalization rise by 21% since the beginning of the year. Newfield Exploration Co. (NYSE:NFX) issued 34.5 million shares of common stock through a public offering completed during the first quarter of 2016, which generated net proceeds of roughly $776 million. A portion of those net proceeds were used to repay all the company’s outstanding borrowings under its credit facility and money market lines of credit. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management owned 3.18 million shares of Newfield Exploration Co. (NYSE:NFX) at the end of the March quarter.

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