Notable Insider Sales Registered at Capella Education Company (CPLA) and Two Other Companies

Willis Lease Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:WLFC) saw the man-in-charge of its business unload a sizable block of shares last week. Charles F. Willis IV, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the lessor of commercial aircraft engines, sold 60,000 units of common stock on Friday for $21.59 each, trimming his direct ownership stake to 704,681 shares. Those shares were sold back to the company and cancelled under its existing repurchase program. Mr. Willis also holds an indirect ownership stake of 2.13 million shares through CFW Partners. Moreover, former Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Bradley S. Forsyth, sold 738 shares last Wednesday and 389 shares on Friday at a weighted average price of $21.77, which reduced his ownership to 17,344 shares.

Willis Lease Finance Corporation’s business involves acquiring and leasing commercial aircraft engines and related aircraft equipment. The company’s lease portfolio included 201 engines and related equipment, 10 aircraft, as well as five spare parts packages at the end of 2015. The company also managed a lease portfolio of 40 engines and related equipment for other parties. Lease rent revenue, which accounted for 54% of the company’s total revenue in 2015, increased to $107.87 million in 2015 from $101.75 million in 2014. The increase was mainly driven by a higher average size of the company’s lease portfolio and higher average portfolio utilization. Meanwhile, maintenance reserve revenue, which constituted 27.6% of total revenue last year, increased to $55.06 million in 2015 from $53.36 million in 2014, which reflected the higher usage of engines under lease.

Willis Lease Finance’s market capitalization increased by 14% in the past 52 weeks, so Mr. Willis might have decided to diversify his holdings in the light the exceptional stock performance in the past year. A mere two money managers monitored by Insider Monkey were invested in the engine lessor at the end of December, who stockpiled 11.40% of the company’s total number of outstanding shares. Peter Schliemann’s Rutabaga Capital Management owned nearly 644,000 shares of Willis Lease Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:WLFC) on December 31.