One Prison Operator and Two Retailers Register Noteworthy Insider Selling

Let’s now focus our attention on the insider selling witnessed at Express Inc. (NYSE:EXPR). Non-Executive Chairman Michael A. Weiss, who retired as Chief Executive Officer of the Columbus-based fashion retailer in January 2015, sold 50,000 shares last Tuesday at prices varying from $21.00 and $21.13 per share, cutting his direct ownership stake to 1.41 million shares. Mr. Weiss also holds an indirect ownership stake of 334,729 shares through a grantor retained annuity trust, called the Michael A. Weiss Trust Agreement Gamma #5.

Express is a specialty apparel and accessories retailer that offers both women’s and men’s merchandise through more than 650 retail and factory outlet stores. The specialty retail apparel company has seen its shares advance by 22% since the beginning of the year, which probably explains Mr. Weiss’ decision to cash out a portion of his holding. Express generated net sales of $2.35 billion for fiscal 2015 that ended January 30, which increased from $2.17 billion in fiscal 2014. The company’s comparable sales grew 6% year-on-year, while diluted earnings per share increased to $1.38 from $0.81 reported for fiscal 2014. The management of Express anticipates fiscal 2016 comparable sales to grow by a low-single-digit percentage, and expects diluted EPS in the range of $1.47-to-$1.62. Shares of Express are currently trading around 11.6-times expected earnings, versus the forward P/E ratio of 20.2 for the Apparel Retail sector. The smart money sentiment towards the fashion retailer declined significantly in the fourth quarter of 2015, as the number of funds invested in the company dropped to 25 from 34 quarter-on-quarter. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Advisors LLC significantly boosted its stake in Express Inc. (NYSE:EXPR) during the December quarter, ending 2015 with nearly 657,000 shares.

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