SYNNEX, Hibbett Sports, and Alnylam Among 5 Stocks With Notable Insider Trading

U.S indexes have opened lower this morning, as the trading week has kicked off with a plunge in global bonds courtesy of inflation fears. Those fears were stoked recently after officials in both the U.S and U.K stated that they aren’t concerned with overshooting inflation targets.

It appears that the insiders of several companies are also taking a bearish stance, as this daily edition of the latest insider trading activity shows that sales dominated the list of insider transactions reported with the SEC on Friday. We’ll take a look at five companies with insider activity in this article and also check out how hedge funds have been trading these stocks recently.

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Former President of Hibbett Sports, Inc. (NASDAQ:HIBB) Sells Shares

Michael J. Newsome, the Chairman of Hibbett Sports, Inc. (NASDAQ:HIBB)’s Board of Directors and the former President of the company, sold 10,000 shares on Thursday at an average selling price of $39.97. That leaves Mr. Newsome with a direct ownership stake of 29,882 shares. The latest insider sale is Mr. Newsome’s third in the past three months, during which time he’s sold just under 20,000 shares.

After losing half of their value during 2014 and 2015, shares of Hibbett Sports, Inc. (NASDAQ:HIBB) are back on the rise, having gained 33% this year. The sports clothing retailer has seen its net sales rise by 4.3% during the first half of its fiscal year 2017, thanks in part to the bankruptcy of sporting goods rivals like Sports Authority and Vestis Retail Group earlier this year. Despite the gains this year, Hibbett Sports is still well off of its historical valuation, trading at just 2.80-times its book value and at a P/E ratio of just 13.17.

Multiple hedge funds in our system opened new positions in Hibbett Sports during the second quarter, including First Pacific Advisors, Renaissance Technologies, and Hutchin Hill Capital. Overall, 13 funds in our system were long the stock on June 30, up from nine a quarter earlier.

More Insider Selling at SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE:SNX)

Just a couple of weeks after we reported a load of insider selling at SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE:SNX), yet more selling has been reported with the SEC. Peter Larocque, the President of the company’s North America Distribution, reported selling a total of 12,151 shares in multiple transactions last week, cutting his direct ownership stake to 14,303 shares.

After hitting their 52-week high at the end of September, SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE:SNX) shares have trended downward throughout October, giving back over 10% of their value as investors and insiders engaged in profit taking. Following the company’s better-than-expected fiscal third quarter results on September 26, Brean Capital analyst Ananda Baruah raised his price target on the stock to $124 from $108. Mr. Baruah believes that the company is positioning itself for normalized earnings in the $8-to-$9 range in 2018. SYNNEX has guided for earnings of $6.90 for its fiscal 2017 year. 13 hedge funds in our system were shareholders of SYNNEX at the end of June, owning 2.50% of its shares.

We’ll check out the latest insider trading activity at three other companies on the second page of this article.

Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) EVP Unloads Shares

While one member of Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON)’s Board bought shares last week, another member decided to sell some. Robert T. Fraley, ph.D., one of the company’s Executive Vice Presidents and its Chief Technology Officer, executed a number of trades last week, including exercising his stock options on 56,480 shares and selling those shares. More importantly (as we don’t report stock options activity on its own), he sold 24,151 shares on October 13 at an average price of $102.13. Mr. Fraley currently has a direct ownership stake of 38,711 shares, in addition to indirect ownership of 22,917 shares.

Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) of course is in the process of being acquired by German company Bayer in a proposed $66 billion deal, so while some members of Monsanto’s executive team may feel confident in its acquisition, it’s not surprising to see others cash out of their shares. Executives from the two companies expect the deal to close by the end of next year. Mr. Fraley himself testified before a Senate Judiciary Committee on September 20, regarding consolidation and competition in the seed and chemicals industry, as regulators scrutinize the deal. Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management reported ownership of 2,856 shares of Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) in its 13F filing for the September 30 reporting period.

Insider Buying at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALNY) Following Tumble

After Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALNY) shares took a huge hit earlier this month, the David E I Pyott Trust, of which one of the company’s Independent Directors, David Pyott, is a trustee, snatched up 27,900 shares at a price of $37.00 per share. Mr. Pyott now has indirect ownership of the same amount of shares following the Thursday transaction.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALNY) sank by nearly 50% on October 6 after the company announced that it would no longer pursue one of its lead drug candidates, revusiran, after some concerning safety results emerged from a phase III trial of the treatment. While the company has some other promising treatments in its pipeline, the market has yet to show any forgiveness for the failure of revusiran. 25 hedge funds in our database were long Alnylam on June 30, down from 29 on March 31.

Small Insider Sale at Semtech Corporation (NASDAQ:SMTC)

There was a small insider sale at Semtech Corporation (NASDAQ:SMTC) last week from J. Michael Wilson, Executive Vice President – Quality and Reliability. Mr. Wilson sold 3,000 shares of his position in the company at an average price of $25.15 on October 14, lowering his direct ownership position to 78,284 shares.

After an extended run from mid-February through early-October, Semtech Corporation (NASDAQ:SMTC) shares have slid by over 10% after it lowered its third quarter GAAP revenue estimate to $130 million-to-$138 million on October 5, down by $4 million at both ends of the range. The adjustment was the result of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) being granted a warrant to purchase just under 1.09 million shares of Semtech at $0.01 each as part of a network coverage deal between the two companies. Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s Algert Coldiron Investors sold off its 17,024 shares of Semtech during the third quarter, a position which it had just opened during the second quarter.

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