Top insider trades (Fri, Aug 14)

Today’s Largest Unscheduled Trades

There were 228 new insider trades filed.

1 insider trade was flagged as High Signal because the company is super cheap but doesn’t yet screen as such, as it's still finishing divestitures of a few businesses and distributing cash. They also have an industry upgrade tailwind over the next few years.

Our system gave high scores to 4 insider purchases (I shared our system’s notes on those in the High Scoring Purchases - Quick Notes).

We also found 3 insider purchases from insiders who average 20%+ 1y returns.

CEO Watcher Premium subs can see all of these notes in later sections of this email.

Today’s most interesting unscheduled insider trades:

• Director (BECKWITT RICHARD) at Dream Finders Homes, Inc. $DFH purchased $1.26M (largest purchase ever, out of 3).

• COO at Chiron Real Estate Inc. $XRN purchased $495.86K (first-ever purchase). 2 other insiders also purchased the stock in the last 30 days.

• Chief Executive Officer at OppFi Inc. $OPFI purchased $427.68K (largest purchase ever, out of 40). Dip Buy: the stock was down -22% in the previous month. This insider has purchased the stock 2 times in the last 30 days.

• President and CEO at Regional Management Corp. $RM purchased $316.50K (first-ever purchase). This increased their listed holdings by 21%. Dip Buy: the stock was down -25% in the previous month.

• Chief Financial Officer at Amrize Ltd $AMRZ purchased $283.53K (first-ever purchase). 4 other insiders also purchased the stock in the last 30 days.

• CLO, CCO, CAO & Corp Sec at HARLEY-DAVIDSON, INC. $HOG purchased $197.85K (first-ever purchase). 2 other insiders also purchased the stock in the last 30 days.

• VP, Finance & Operations at Globalstar, Inc. $GSAT sold $12.45M (largest sale ever, out of 10). This decreased their listed holdings by -26%. Rip Sell: the stock was up 202% in the previous year. 2 other insiders also sold the stock in the last 30 days.

• EVP, General Counsel at Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK sold $10.72M (2nd largest sale, out of 3). This decreased their listed holdings by -63%. Rip Sell: the stock was up 66% in the previous year. 4 other insiders also sold the stock in the last 30 days.

• President and CEO at AEHR TEST SYSTEMS $AEHR sold $5.23M (3rd largest sale, out of 46). This decreased their listed holdings by -10%. Rip Sell: the stock was up 89% in the previous month. 6 other insiders also sold the stock in the last 30 days.

• Director (Burdick Kenneth A) at LifeStance Health Group, Inc. $LFST sold $5.75M (largest sale ever, out of 13). This decreased their listed holdings by -14%. Rip Sell: the stock was up 50% in the previous 3 months. Reversal: they made 1 straight purchase before this sale. 3 other insiders also sold the stock in the last 30 days.

• EVP, Access, Policy & Comms at Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK sold $1.35M (4th largest sale, out of 6). This decreased their listed holdings by -21%. Rip Sell: the stock was up 66% in the previous year. 4 other insiders also sold the stock in the last 30 days.

Today’s largest unscheduled insider trades:

• Director (SIMPSON BOB R) at TXO Partners, L.P. $TXO purchased $2.15M (9th largest purchase, out of 22). This insider has purchased the stock 2 times in the last 30 days.

• Director (PEEK MARK S) at Mobility Global Inc. $MBGL purchased $980.57K (3rd largest purchase, out of 10).

• 10% Owner (DART KENNETH BRYAN) at Flutter Entertainment plc $FLUT purchased $623.22K. Dip Buy: the stock was down -66% in the previous year. This insider has purchased the stock 7 times in the last 30 days. Is part of a dividend reinvestment.

• Director (Mulligan Donal L) at TENNANT CO $TNC purchased $538.72K (largest purchase ever, out of 7). This increased their listed holdings by 26%. 1 other insider also purchased the stock in the last 30 days.

• Director (Fitzgerald Charles) at Chiron Real Estate Inc. $XRN purchased $500.92K (2nd largest purchase, out of 2). This increased their listed holdings by 11%. 1 other insider also purchased the stock in the last 30 days.

• 10% Owner (MALONE JOHN C) at Liberty Latin America Ltd. $LILA purchased $430.91K (59th largest purchase, out of 102). 2 other insiders also purchased the stock in the last 30 days.

• Director (CRANDALL ROGER W) at Constellation Energy Corp $CEG purchased $417.93K (largest purchase ever, out of 6). This increased their listed holdings by 229%.

• N/A at Compass Diversified Holdings $CODI purchased $386.81K (first-ever purchase). This increased their listed holdings by 96%. Rip Buy: the stock was up 23% in the previous month. 1 other insider also purchased the stock in the last 30 days.

• 10% Owner (SCHULER JACK W) at BIODESIX INC $BDSX purchased $366.99K (100th largest purchase, out of 183). Rip Buy: the stock was up 65% in the previous 3 months. This insider has purchased the stock 2 times in the last 30 days.

• Director (BRACKEN CHARLES H R) at Liberty Latin America Ltd. $LILA purchased $364.69K. This increased their listed holdings by -38%. 2 other insiders also purchased the stock in the last 30 days.

• 10% Owner (Ignition Acquisition Holdings LP) at OPENLANE, Inc. $OPLN sold $274.88M (first-ever sale). This decreased their listed holdings by -48%.

• 10% Owner (DST Global Advisors Ltd) at Chime Financial, Inc. $CHYM sold $33.43M (3rd largest sale, out of 4). Rip Sell: the stock was up 50% in the previous month. 4 other insiders also sold the stock in the last 30 days.

• Director (Volpi Michelangelo) at Aurora Innovation, Inc. $AUR sold $10.19M (17th largest sale, out of 57). Rip Sell: the stock was up 53% in the previous 6 months. This insider has sold the stock 4 times in the last 30 days.

• 10% Owner (Equinox Partners Investment Management LLC) at GRAN TIERRA ENERGY INC. $GTE sold $3.88M (2nd largest sale, out of 3). Rip Sell: the stock was up 42% in the previous month. This insider has sold the stock 3 times in the last 30 days.

• EVP, Chief Legal Officer at Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $AMRX sold $3.77M (largest sale ever, out of 5). This decreased their listed holdings by -86%. Rip Sell: the stock was up 42% in the previous 3 months. 1 other insider also sold the stock in the last 30 days.

• Director (SCOTT GEOFFREY GATES) at AEHR TEST SYSTEMS $AEHR sold $2.63M (2nd largest sale, out of 16). This decreased their listed holdings by -18%. Rip Sell: the stock was up 89% in the previous month. 6 other insiders also sold the stock in the last 30 days.

• VICE CHAIRMAN AND COO at WINTRUST FINANCIAL CORP $WTFC sold $2.20M (2nd largest sale, out of 18).

• Director (BASSWOOD CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, L.L.C.) at Dime Commercial Bancshares, Inc. /NY/ $DCOM sold $1.62M (26th largest sale, out of 144). 1 other insider also sold the stock in the last 30 days.

• Director (Lehrman Thomas D) at Ibotta, Inc. $IBTA sold $1.53M (10th largest sale, out of 14). This decreased their listed holdings by -27%. Rip Sell: the stock was up 67% in the previous 6 months. 2 other insiders also sold the stock in the last 30 days.

• Director (Geer Noel B) at Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS sold $1.41M (largest sale ever, out of 3). This decreased their listed holdings by -12%. Rip Sell: the stock was up 31% in the previous month. Reversal: they made 1 straight purchases before this sale. Their last sale was 1008 days ago.

• and more…

CEO Watcher Update

It was a pretty good week for the CEO Watcher Portfolio, gaining 2.71% (v 0.53% for the S&P). This was driven by three good earnings results and a handful of software companies performing well.

Overall, the CEO Watcher Portfolio is massively outperforming the S&P since we launched the portfolio at the end of October (37.63% v 13.18%).

High Signal List

We added 4 new stocks to the High Signal List this week.

The High Signal List had a good week, too. The 200+ stocks on the list were up an average of 2.37%.

Overall, the stocks on the list are outperforming the S&P by just over 10 points with a 69% win rate.

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