Curious how well insiders are doing with their buys? Scroll through the significant buys of the last year.
The Fed has been bullied into raising interest rates into a weakening economy. Raising interest rates to bring down the price of oil or to untangle the supply chain disruptions is an act of lunacy. The market is telling us that. Last week a bunch of senators and representatives gave the Fed Chairman a mouthful of that for the first time. Now many congressional members are telling the Fed Chairman Powel that bleeding the patient to cure the disease is obsolete. Hooray- I thought Powell’s testimony before Congress was going to be a Paul Volker love fest. Instead, people have learned something and the Fed is likely to listen. This was the punch behind the rally. I think we’ve put in the lows in a number of beaten-down names but the indices could have more to go. I’m sure all the bond vigilantes talking their own book to the press were deeply disappointed.
Name: Faeder David W
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2022-06-21 Shares Bought: 10,565 Average Price Paid: $95.84 Cost: $1,012,587.00
Company: Federal Realty Investment Trust. (FRT)
A well-known industry leader in the ownership, management, and redevelopment of premium retail buildings, Federal Realty is largely present in the major coastal areas from Washington, D.C., to Boston, as well as San Francisco and Los Angeles. Federal Realty was established in 1962 with the goal of fostering long-term, sustainable growth by making investments in areas where there is a shortage of retail space. As examples of its work, consider Assembly Row in Somerville, Massachusetts, Pike & Rose in North Bethesda, Maryland, and Santana Row in San Jose, California. These distinctive and dynamic settings, which integrate living, working, eating, and retail, offer a destination experience that is cherished by their particular communities. The 106 buildings owned by Federal Realty include around 3,100 tenants spread across 25 million commercial feet and about 3,200 residential units.
Fountain Square Properties was established by David W. Faeder. Mr. Faeder serves as the non-executive chairman of both Federal Realty OP LP and Federal Realty Investment Trust (a subsidiary of Federal Realty Investment Trust). Mr. Faeder serves on the boards of Arlington Asset Investment Corp., the University of Richmond, Fountain Square Properties, and The Kensington of Falls Church LLC. He is also a managing partner there. In the past, he held the positions of vice chairman and president for Credit Suisse First Boston LLC, vice chairman and president for Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, president, and principal for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and vice chairman and president for Sunrise Senior Living, Inc. Old Dominion University awarded David W. Faeder a bachelor’s degree, and the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business awarded him an MBA.
Opinion: Office buildings and retail space are two sectors of the real estate market that show the most fault line as the moment. I’d prefer multiunit apartments.
Name: Viets Joshua J.
Position: COO
Transaction Date: 2022-06-16 Shares Bought: 2,450 Average Price Paid: $84.41 Cost: $206,807.00
Company: Chesapeake Energy Corp (CHK)
In order to produce oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids from subterranean reserves in the United States, Chesapeake Energy Corporation, an independent exploration, and production firm, acquires, explores, and develops assets. The company has stakes in the liquids-rich Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas, the natural gas resource plays in the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania’s northern Appalachian Basin, the Haynesville/Bossier Shales in northwestern Louisiana, and the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania’s northern Appalachian Basin. As of December 31, 2021, it had estimated proven reserves of 661 million barrels of oil equivalent and had interests in around 8,200 gross producing wells, comprising 6,500 wells with working interest and 1,700 wells with an overriding or royalty interest. The business was established in 1989, and Oklahoma’s capital city serves as its base of operations.
In February 2022, Josh J. Viets was named executive vice president and chief operating officer. His most recent position was Vice President, Delaware Basin for ConocoPhillips’ Permian Basin Business Unit. In 2002, Mr. Viets started working at ConocoPhillips. He has since held a number of technical and managerial positions both in the United States and the United Kingdom. In operations, engineering, subsurface, and asset management, he has held executive roles. Early in his career, he supported a variety of properties across the ConocoPhillips portfolio as a reservoir and production engineer. In 2001, Mr. Viets graduated from Colorado School of Mines with a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering.
Opinion: Recent pullback in energy names is more than likely a buying opportunity. Let it come in a little more. Very keen on natural gas, stranded or otherwise. There seems like a long future in nat gas as electric cars need natural gas-fired plants to produce the electricity to charge the vehicles. Even if crude oil is largely replaced as a transportation fuel the enormous amount of electricity needed will likely get a disproportionate share from natural gas for the foreseeable future. It’s just too expensive and time-consuming for an immediate move to renewables.
Name: Keppler John K.
Position: CEO, Chairman
Transaction Date: 2022-06-23 Shares Bought: 16,422 Average Price Paid: $60.57 Cost: $994,650.00
Company: Enviva Inc. (EVA)
Enviva is a global energy company that focuses in wood bioenergy that is environmentally beneficial. We’re the largest producer of sustainable wood pellets in the world, a renewable alternative to coal that’s part of an all-in renewables plan to reduce carbon emissions, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and combat climate change. Enviva employs over 1,000 people worldwide, owns and operates nine wood pellet manufacturing plants strategically located throughout the Southeast, and ships our wood pellets to customers all over the world from five deep sea export terminals. Our facilities are strategically located in areas with a well-managed and growing forest inventory, a strong infrastructure, and knowledgeable local employees. In the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan, we have offices.
Entrepreneur and businessman John K. Keppler created Intrinergy LLC, Enviva LP, and Enviva Holdings LP. He has also served as the CEO of 5 different organizations. Mr. Keppler is now the Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Enviva Partners LP, Enviva LP, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Enviva Holdings LP, and Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Enviva Partners GP LLC (which are all subsidiaries of Enviva Partners LP). The Sustainable Biomass Program Ltd. board of directors also includes Mr. Keppler.Previously, Mr. Keppler held the positions of President and CEO of Intrinergy LLC and Director of Corporate Strategy at America Online, Inc. John K. Keppler graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree and the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business with an MBA.
Opinion: We don’t usually think of renewables as wood pellets but they do meet the definition. It’s just not very green when you combust them releasing CO2.
Name: Moorthy Ganesh
Position: CEO
Transaction Date: 2022-06-17 Shares Bought: 8,000 Average Price Paid: $57.29 Cost: $458,301.00
Company: Microchip Technology Inc (MCHP)
In the Americas, Europe, and Asia, Microchip Technology Incorporated develops, produces, and distributes smart, connected, and secure embedded control systems. The company provides 32-bit embedded microprocessors, general-purpose 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit microcontrollers, as well as specialized microcontrollers for the automotive, industrial, computing, and communications, lighting, power supplies, motor control, human-machine interface, security, wired connectivity, and wireless connectivity industries. Additionally, it offers development tools that allow system designers to program microcontroller and microprocessor products for particular applications, as well as the analog, interface, mixed signal, and timing products made up of radio frequency (RF), drivers, linear, mixed-signal, high-voltage, thermal management, discrete diodes, and metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETS).
Ganesh Moorthy serves as president, chief operating officer, and director of Microchip Technology, Inc., as well as president and director of Microsemi Corp. – RF Signal Processing, a subsidiary of Microchip Technology, Inc. Additionally, Ganesh Moorthy, serves on the boards of Silicon Storage Technology, Inc., Microsemi SoC Corp., Rogers Corp., and the Semiconductor Industry Association. He served as Chairman for ISSC Technologies Corp. in his previous employment. Mr. Moorthy holds undergraduate degrees from the University of Mumbai, the University of Washington, and National University as well as an MBA.
Opinion: Chips are not in the chips so to speak. I’m not sure why analysts are talking about a glut of them when all you hear are production delays due to shortages.
Name: Norton Pierce
Position: CEO
Transaction Date: 2022-06-17 Shares Bought: 8,975 Average Price Paid: $55.54 Cost: $498,462.00
Company: Oneok Inc (OKE)
Natural gas is gathered, processed, stored, and transported in the United States by ONEOK, Inc. and its subsidiaries. Natural Gas Gathering and Processing, Natural Gas Liquids, and Natural Gas Pipelines are its three main business segments. In the Mid-Continent and Rocky Mountain areas, the firm has natural gas collection pipelines and processing facilities. Natural gas liquids (NGL) are also collected, processed, fractionated, and transported in addition to being stored, sold, and distributed. The company owns and operates truck- and rail loading and -unloading facilities connected to NGL fractionation, storage, and distribution pipelines in Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, New Mexico, Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Colorado. It also owns terminal and storage facilities in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois. It also owns and operates NGL distribution and refined petroleum products pipelines in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana.
As a director on the ONEOK Board of Directors and the president and CEO of the company, Pierce H. Norton II. Prior to this, Norton worked for ONE Gas, Inc. for more than seven years as president and CEO and a member of the ONE Gas board. Norton joined ONEOK in 2004 and worked there for over ten years. Norton was the senior vice president, commercial, of ONEOK and ONEOK Partners prior to the separation of ONE Gas in January 2014. He also served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of ONEOK and ONEOK Partners, overseeing the business areas for energy services, natural gas collection and processing, natural gas pipelines, natural gas liquids, and natural gas distribution. Additionally, Norton served as president of the ONEOK Distribution Companies, which include Texas Gas Service, Kansas Gas Service, and Oklahoma Natural Gas. At Delhi Gas Pipeline, a division of Texas Oil and Gas Corporation, Norton started his career in the natural gas sector in 1982. Later, he held operational roles for intrastate and interstate pipelines, natural gas collecting and processing, and American Oil and Gas.
Opinion: Buy on the pullback. Frankly, this is a no-brainer. 6.85% will be far better than any coupon you can clip.
Name: Ferraioli Brian K
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2022-06-16 Shares Bought: 8,050 Average Price Paid: $22.50 Cost: $181,143.00
Company: Vistra Corp. (VST)
Vistra Corp. acts as an integrated retail electricity and power generation corporation through its subsidiaries. Retail, Texas, East, West, Sunset, and Asset Closure are the company’s six segments. It provides residential, commercial, and industrial clients with electricity and natural gas in 20 states and the District of Columbia. Electricity generating, wholesale energy purchases and sales, commodities risk management, fuel production, and fuel logistics management are among the company’s other activities. With a portfolio of natural gas, nuclear, coal, solar, and battery energy storage plants, it serves over 4.3 million consumers with a generation capacity of around 38,700 megawatts. Vistra Energy Corp. was the previous name of the corporation, which was changed to Vistra Corp. in July 2020. Vistra Corp., situated in Irving, Texas, was formed in 1882.
Brian K. Ferraioli is now the executive chairman of Atlas Technical Consultants, Inc., chief financial officer, and director of Kellogg Brown & Root LLC, chief financial officer and director of KBR USA LLC, and operating partner of Bernhard Capital Partners Management LP. Along with being a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors, Mr. Ferraioli serves on the boards of KBRwyle Technology Solutions LLC, KBR Holdings LLC, Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc., and Vistra Corp. Brian K. Ferraioli previously held the positions of chief financial officer and executive vice president at KBR, Inc., chief financial officer and executive vice president at CB&I Group, Inc., chief financial officer and vice president at Foster Wheeler Power Systems, Inc., chief financial officer and vice president at Amec Foster Wheeler USA Corp., chief financial officer and executive vice president at The Shaw Group, Inc., and vice president-international project financing.
Opinion: Utility stocks took it on the chin for the last couple of weeks. They held up well while the Fed jawboned tightening but the aggressiveness of the tightening cycle finally got to these yield-sensitive recession plays. We’ve blogged numerous times about why we like this sector, even in this rising interest play. Now is a time to pick up some fallen names like VSTA.
Name: Malkin Anthony E
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2022-06-17 Shares Bought: 37,800 Average Price Paid: $14.47 Cost: $546,966.00
Company: APi Group Corp (APG)
In North America, Europe, Australia, and the Asia-Pacific, Pi Group Corporation offers industrial, specialist, and safety services. Safety Services, Specialty Services, and Industrial Services make up its three operating segments. The Safety Services business unit provides safety solutions with a focus on end-to-end integrated occupancy systems, including entry systems, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), and solutions for fire protection. These integrated systems are designed, installed, inspected, monitored, and serviced by the Safety Services business unit. The Specialty Services section offers maintenance and repair services for underground electric, gas, water, sewage, and telecommunications infrastructure, as well as specialty industrial plant services.Additionally, this section provides fabrication, installation, retrofitting, and upgrading services. The Industrial Services section offers a range of services and products to the energy sector with a transmission and distribution focus, including pipeline infrastructure, access and road construction, supporting facilities, integrity monitoring, and maintenance.
Empire State Realty Trust, Inc.’s chairman, president, and CEO is Anthony E. Malkin. He joined Chemical Venture Partners, L.P. in 1985 after graduating with a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College. Mr. Malkin joined the forerunner of ESRT, Malkin Holdings, LLC, and its affiliates in 1989.As the team coordinator for the historic retrofit project at the Empire State Building with the Clinton Climate Initiative, Johnson Controls, JLL, and Rocky Mountain Institute, Mr. Malkin is a pioneer in energy-efficiency retrofits for the built environment. He oversaw the creation of the Tenant Energy Optimization Program, currently known as the standards for energy-efficient office tenant installations, at the Urban Land Institute. Mr. Malkin regularly discusses sustainability and the future of real estate. He has recently been on Bloomberg Television, the Economic Club of New York with Gayle King, CNN’s Quest Means Business, and the Economic Club of New York.
Opinion: A conglomeration of fire safety and building management services is just too complicated for me. I’ll pass for now unless I see cluster insider buying.
Name: Webster Steven A
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2022-06-23 Shares Bought: 25,000 Average Price Paid: $8.72 Cost: $218,052.00
Company: Oceaneering International Inc. (OII)
Globally, the offshore energy, defense, aerospace, manufacturing, and entertainment industries are served by Oceaneering International, Inc.’s engineering services, goods, and robotic solutions. The business’s Subsea Robotics division offers remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) for drill support and vessel-based services, such as installing and building subsea gear, inspecting pipelines, conducting surveys, and inspecting, maintaining, and repairing facilities. Along with survey services, such as hydrographic survey and location, this category also provides ROV tooling and autonomous underwater vehicles for geoscience. This section had 250 work-class ROVs as of December 31, 2021. The company’s Manufactured Products division offers the energy sector distribution and connection systems, such as production control umbilicals and field development gear, pipeline connection, and repair systems, as well as entertainment systems to a variety of other sectors.
Founder of eight businesses, including Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc., Grey Wolf, Inc., and R&B Falcon Corp. Entrepreneur and businessman Steven A. Webster now serves as the Managing Partner of AEC Holdings LP and has led eight separate firms. In addition, he serves on the boards of 19 more firms and is a general partner at Somerset Capital Partners LP and managing general partner at Cerrito Partners. Prior to founding Avista Capital Holdings LP in 2010, he served as Chairman of Basic Energy Services, Inc., Chairman of Solitario Zinc Corp., Chairman of aPriori Capital Partners LP, and Chairman of Crown Resources Corp.
Opinion: It’s a small buy but I believe there is a big future in mining the ocean bottoms and not just for oil. Manganese, nicker, and other nodules litter the depth and could be used i.n EV applications and rare earth
Name: Finkelstein David L
Position: CEO
Transaction Date: 2022-06-17 Shares Bought: 200,000 Average Price Paid: $5.56 Cost: $1,112,000.00
Company: Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NLY)
Mortgage lending and corporate middle market lending are two activities that Annaly Capital Management, Inc., diversified capital management, engage in. The business makes investments in mortgage-backed securities issued by agencies, mortgage servicing rights, mortgage-backed securities issued by agencies for commercial purposes, non-Agency residential mortgage assets, residential mortgage loans, credit risk transfer securities, corporate debts, and other commercial real estate investments. It has chosen to pay taxes in the form of a real estate investment trust (REIT). Insofar as it distributes its taxable income to its shareholders, it is exempt from federal income tax since it is a REIT. The business is headquartered in New York, New York, and was established in 1996.
Annaly’s President and Chief Executive Officer is David L. Finkelstein. Mr. Finkelstein, who formerly held the position of Chief Investment Officer, was chosen to serve as a director of Annaly in March 2020. With regards to fixed income investments, Mr. Finkelstein has 25 years of expertise. Mr. Finkelstein worked as an officer in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Markets Group for four years prior to joining Annaly in 2013, during which time he served as the program’s chief strategist and policy adviser. At Salomon Smith Barney, Citigroup Inc., and Barclays PLC before that, Mr. Finkelstein held top Agency MBS trading roles. Mr. Finkelstein belongs to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Treasury Market Practices Group. Mr. Finkelstein earned his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business after earning his B.A. in business administration from the University of Washington. Additionally, Mr. Finkelstein is a Certified Financial Analyst.
Opinion: You have to be a ballet dancer to navigate the leveraged mortgage market the way NLY does. At the moment they look more like a gorilla than a ballerina.
Name: Peterson Karl Mr.
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2022-06-15 Shares Bought: 500,000 Average Price Paid: $2.77 Cost: $1,385,600.00
Company: Vacasa Inc. (VCSA)
In North America, Belize, and Costa Rica, Vacasa, Inc. runs a vacation rental management platform. On Vacasa.com and the Vacasa Guest App, the firm makes its homes searchable, discoverable, and bookable by visitors. Through its network of real estate brokers, it also offers services for the purchase and sale of holiday homes. Portland, Oregon serves as the company’s headquarters. It was established in 2009.
Senior Partner at TPG and Managing Partner of TPG Pace Group, the company’s initiative to sponsor SPACs and other long-term capital solutions for businesses. Karl Peterson. Mr. Peterson directed investments for the company in the technology, media, financial services, and travel sectors after returning to TPG in 2004. From 2010 to 2017, he headed TPG’s European operations. He co-founded Hotwire.com and served as its president and CEO prior to 2004. From the company’s founding in 2000 until its sale to InterActiveCorp (now Expedia) in 2003, he served as its leader. Prior to joining Hotwire, Mr. Peterson worked as a Principal at TPG in San Francisco, where he also held the position of financial analyst from 1992 to 1995. Currently, Mr. Peterson serves as a director at Playa Hotels.
Opinion: I don’t think I want to bother with this travel name. We’ve got our hands and fingers in airlines, cruiseships, and car rental companies.
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Insiders sell the stock for many reasons, but they generally buy for just one – to make money. You’ve always heard the best information is inside information. Everyone who has any experience at all in the stock market pays close attention to what insiders are doing. After all, who knows a business better than the people running it? Officers, directors, and 10% owners are required to inform the public through a Form 4 Filing any transaction, buy, sell, exercise, or any other within 48 hours of doing so. This info is available for free from the SEC’s Web site, Edgar, although we subscribe to SECForm4 as they provide a way to manage and make sense of the vast realms of data. I’ve tried a lot of vendors. SECForm4 is one of the smaller ones but I like supporting Frank. He is not arrogant. He’s helpful and has great prices. He also trades on his own data so I like people that eat what they kill.
We publish a subscription newsletter called The Insiders Report. We offer a free 30-day trial so you have nothing to lose by trying it out. Be sure to carefully read the TERMS OF SERVICE.
qThe bar is different from selling because the natural state of management is to be sellers. This is because most companies provide significant amounts of management compensation packages as stock and options. Therefore, with selling, we analyze for unusual patterns, such as insiders selling 25 percent or more of their holdings or multiple insiders selling near 52-week lows. Another red flag is large planned sale programs that start without warning. Unfortunately, the public information disclosure requirements about these programs referred to as Rule 10b5-1 is horrendously poor. Also planned sales that just pop up out of nowhere are basically sales and are seeking cover under the Sarbanes Oxley corporate welfare clause. I also generally ignore 10 percent shareholders as they tend to be OPM (other people’s money) and perhaps not the smart money we are trying to read the tea leaves on.q
Of course, insiders can also be wrong about their Company’s prospects. Don’t let anyone fool you into believing they never make mistakes. Do your own analysis. They can easily be wrong, and in many cases, maybe most cases have no more idea what the future may hold than you or me. In short, you can lose money following them. We have and we curse aloud, what were they thinking!
We like Fly on the Wall for keeping up with what events might be happening, analysts’ comments, and whatever else could be moving the stock. Dow Jones news service is an essential tool but many services pick up their feed like they do Bloomberg. For quick financial analysis, it’s hard to beat Old School Value.
No one tracks and understands insider behavior better than us. We’ve been doing it religiously since 2001 when I quit being an insider myself and devoted myself full time to managing my personal investments. Needless to say, past good fortune is no guarantee of future success. We may own positions, long or short, in any of these names and are under no obligation to disclose that. We welcome your comments on our analysis.
This blog is solely for educational purposes and the author’s own amusement. Investing with The Insiders Fund is for qualified investors and by Prospectus only. Nothing herein should be construed otherwise. THE INSIDERS FUND invests in companies at or near prices that management has been willing to invest significant amounts of their own money in. If you would like to hear more about how you can get involved with the Insiders Fund, please schedule some time on my calendar.
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