Top insider trades (Thu, Aug 6)

Connor’s Commentary

We closed a handful of positions in the CEO Watcher portfolio to make room for the compelling post-earnings dip buys we are seeing coming in.

• Sold Primo Brands (PRMB) for a 50% gain. We are seeing a lot of insider dip buying in consumer staple companies, so we have newer opportunities in this space. It has also recovered to its median P/E.

• Sold Lakeland Financial (LKFN) for a 10% gain. I don’t have much expertise in bank stocks, and we own a few other banks that are performing better.

• Sold Lumen Tech (LUMN) for a 5% gain. We bought it after an insider bought the earnings dip in February and were up like 40% on this during the AI run-up, but it gave back most of those gains during the sell-off. I kept it around to have some sort of AI exposure (there is very little insider buying in AI stocks), but I think we have better opportunities coming in now (and just added a company with a Power segment that offers some AI exposure).

• Cut Insulet (PODD) for a 12% loss. We’ve seen quite a few compelling insider dip buys in healthcare/medtech stocks, but the whole space has struggled due to funding/reimbursement cuts and slower regulatory approvals. We decided to take a stab on Insulet because it was less exposed to the government and trading at its lowest valuation ever, with multiple insiders buying the stock. But they lowered guidance and cited some retention issues with their Type 2 diabetes product, so we cut it here. Still very interested in the medtech/healthcare space, but it’s been a tough industry recently.

Today’s Largest Unscheduled Trades

There were 315 new insider trades filed.

1 insider trade was flagged as High Signal as multiple insiders are buying the stock at the bottom while it undergoes a turnaround.

Our system gave high scores to 2 insider purchases (I shared our system’s notes on those in the High Scoring Purchases - Quick Notes).

We also found 2 insider purchases from insiders who average 20%+ 1y returns.

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

Today’s largest unscheduled insider trades:

• Chairman, President & CEO at BOSTON SCIENTIFIC CORP $BSX purchased $9.00M (largest purchase ever, out of 5). This increased their listed holdings by 13%. Dip Buy: the stock was down -36% in the previous 6 months. Reversal: they made 29 straight sales before this purchase. Their last purchase was 4263 days ago. 2 other insiders also purchased the stock in the last 30 days.

• Founder and CEO at COSTAR GROUP, INC. $CSGP purchased $2.49M (2nd largest purchase, out of 5). Dip Buy: the stock was down -69% in the previous year.

• Director (Satpathy Aurobind) at Ingersoll Rand Inc. $IR purchased $1.00M (first-ever purchase).

• Director (BLAYLOCK RONALD E) at PFIZER INC $PFE purchased $998.82K (largest purchase ever, out of 5). This increased their listed holdings by 120%. Their last purchase was 536 days ago. 1 other insider also purchased the stock in the last 30 days.

• Director (Buckley Mortimer J) at PFIZER INC $PFE purchased $960.37K (largest purchase ever, out of 3). 1 other insider also purchased the stock in the last 30 days.

• President/CEO (GBank) at GBank Financial Holdings Inc. $GBFH purchased $699.02K (largest purchase ever, out of 2). This increased their listed holdings by 161%. Dip Buy: the stock was down -32% in the previous month. 3 other insiders also purchased the stock in the last 30 days.

• Chief Executive Officer at Tiziana Life Sciences Ltd $TLSA purchased $667.00K (first-ever purchase). This increased their listed holdings by 17%. Dip Buy: the stock was down -25% in the previous month.

• President & CEO at TRACTOR SUPPLY CO /DE/ $TSCO purchased $501.52K (largest purchase ever, out of 4). Reversal: they made 5 straight sales before this purchase. Their last purchase was 2359 days ago. 2 other insiders also purchased the stock in the last 30 days.

• Chief Financial Officer at HOULIHAN LOKEY, INC. $HLI purchased $500.57K (first-ever purchase). Reversal: they made 10 straight sales before this purchase.

• EVP & GM, EES at WESCO INTERNATIONAL INC $WCC purchased $351.25K (2nd largest purchase, out of 2). Rip Buy: the stock was up 21% in the previous month.

• Director (Herbst Timothy P) at GBank Financial Holdings Inc. $GBFH purchased $214.97K (first-ever purchase). Dip Buy: the stock was down -32% in the previous month. 3 other insiders also purchased the stock in the last 30 days.

• CEO and Executive Chairman at GBank Financial Holdings Inc. $GBFH purchased $197.85K (largest purchase ever, out of 3). Dip Buy: the stock was down -32% in the previous month. 3 other insiders also purchased the stock in the last 30 days.

• SECRETARY at GBank Financial Holdings Inc. $GBFH purchased $105.35K (first-ever purchase). Dip Buy: the stock was down -32% in the previous month. 3 other insiders also purchased the stock in the last 30 days.

• 10% Owner (Mark & Robyn Jones Descendants Trust 2014) at Goosehead Insurance, Inc. $GSHD sold $8.03M (10th largest sale, out of 246). Rip Sell: the stock was up 30% in the previous month. 2 other insiders also sold the stock in the last 30 days.

• Director (Campbell Richard D) at SOUTH PLAINS FINANCIAL, INC. $SPFI sold $7.17M (largest sale ever, out of 6). This decreased their listed holdings by -10%. 1 other insider also sold the stock in the last 30 days.

• President at ZIONS BANCORPORATION, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION /UT/ $ZION sold $5.89M (2nd largest sale, out of 14). This decreased their listed holdings by -46%. 2 other insiders also sold the stock in the last 30 days.

• Chairman at Customers Bancorp, Inc. $CUBI sold $5.51M (4th largest sale, out of 30). This insider has sold the stock 2 times in the last 30 days.

• President at PACKAGING CORP OF AMERICA $PKG sold $5.39M (largest sale ever, out of 34).

• Director (Snyder Andrew Miles) at CLARIVATE PLC $CLVT sold $4.83M (2nd largest sale, out of 26). Dip Sell: the stock was down -23% in the previous month. Reversal: they made 4 straight purchases before this sale.

• President & CEO at PC CONNECTION INC $CNXN sold $4.29M (largest sale ever, out of 32). This decreased their listed holdings by -17%. Rip Sell: the stock was up 33% in the previous 3 months. Their last sale was 428 days ago. 3 other insiders also sold the stock in the last 30 days.

• Chief Administrative Officer at Blackstone Inc. $BX sold $4.07M (2nd largest sale, out of 3). Rip Sell: the stock was up 12% in the previous month.

• VP & Pres, GP & Solutions at Johnson Controls International plc $JCI sold $3.58M (4th largest sale, out of 11). This decreased their listed holdings by -60%.

• Director (Shellberg Jeffrey D.) at Bridgewater Bancshares Inc $BWB sold $3.37M (largest sale ever, out of 9). This decreased their listed holdings by -21%. 2 other insiders also sold the stock in the last 30 days.

• Director (DEWALT DAVID G) at DELTA AIR LINES, INC. $DAL sold $2.88M (12th largest sale, out of 23). This decreased their listed holdings by -58%. Rip Sell: the stock was up 31% in the previous 3 months. 3 other insiders also sold the stock in the last 30 days.

• EVP, Chief Marketing Officer at MICROSOFT CORP $MSFT sold $2.39M (2nd largest sale, out of 13). This decreased their listed holdings by -10%. Rip Sell: the stock was up 26% in the previous month.

• Director (CLARK IAN T) at Guardant Health, Inc. $GH sold $2.25M (6th largest sale, out of 62). This decreased their listed holdings by -82%. Rip Sell: the stock was up 78% in the previous 3 months. 1 other insider also sold the stock in the last 30 days.

• PAO at Acadian Asset Management Inc. $AAMI sold $2.24M (first-ever sale). This decreased their listed holdings by -100%. Rip Sell: the stock was up 25% in the previous month.

• and more…

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