Noteworthy Insider Buying and Selling Transactions Witnessed at These Five Companies

This Leading U.S. Publisher Saw One Influential Executive Buy Big This Week

New Media Investment Group Inc. (NYSE:NEWM)’s Chief Financial Officer and Accounting Officer, Gregory W. Freiberg, purchased 25,000 shares on Tuesday at prices varying from $16.00 to $16.10 per share, which boosted his ownership to 73,269 shares. New Media owns, operates and invests in local media assets, with its portfolio of products including 620 publications, 521 websites, 460 mobile sites and six yellow page directories.

Earlier this month, New Media Investment Group Inc. (NYSE:NEWM) completed the $18 million-acquisition of Journal Multimedia, a multi-title publisher of business journals, trade and consumer magazines, digital products, and a research and events division. The acquirer’s total revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2016 that ended March 27 increased to $300.1 million from $250.6 million, thanks to a series of acquisitions. However, the company’s same-store revenue for the quarter decreased 5.1% year-on-year due to lower advertising revenue and lower commercial printing and other revenue. New Media shares are 17% in the red year-to-date. Murray Stahl’s Horizon Asset Management owns 65,091 shares of New Media Investment Group Inc. (NYSE:NEWM) as of March 31.

Mattersight Had One Board Member Purchase Sizable Block of Shares This Week

Michael J. Murray, member of Mattersight Corp (NASDAQ:MATR)’s Board of Directors, purchased 100,000 shares on Monday at prices that fell between $3.30 and $3.48 per share. Following the recent purchase, Mr. Murray holds a stake of 563,553 shares.

The massive insider purchase comes shortly after the personality-based software provider released its first-quarter earnings report on May 4. Mattersight Corp (NASDAQ:MATR)’s shares have plummeted 43% since the start of 2016, with the earnings report having made matters even worse. The company’s total revenue for the first quarter increased 8% year-on-year to $10.1 million due to increased subscription fees related to several new Behavioral Analytics subscription customers and higher user counts in its existing client base. Mattersight’s top five clients derived 71% of total revenue in the first quarter, so the company’s top-line growth could suffer enormously should one top client find Mattersight’s stack of innovative applications obsolete. Phil Frohlich’s Prescott Group Capital Management had 1.55 million shares of Mattersight Corp (NASDAQ:MATR) in its portfolio at the end of March.