Tuesday was a dark day on the TSX, and insider sales emphasised the lack of confidence investors had in the market.
Sun Life Financial (
TSX:T.SLF,
Stock Forum) saw the biggest sell-off from insiders – that being officers, directors, board members and 10%+ shareholders – with $6.2 million in shares traded away. $128k came back in insider purchases, but the big sale led the market for internal dealings.
Enbridge (
TSX:T.ENB,
Stock Forum) also saw some big insider selling, with $2.7 million in shares moved after stocks rose 10% in October.
Air Canada (
TSX:T.AC.B,
Stock Forum) also saw some big profit-taking after a near-100% rise since October 1 and a 250% jump since August.
Brookfield Asset Management (
TSX:T.BAM.A,
Stock Forum) and Torstar Corporation (
TSX:T.TS.B,
Stock Forum) saw insiders sell $1.78m and $1.54m respectively.
On the buying side, activity was dominated, as per normal, with the stock buyback programs of Thomson Reuters ($4.8m) and CIBC ($2.9m), but Dundee REIT (
TSX:T.D.UN,
Stock Forum) insiders drew in $5.2m of stock to lead the board.
In Wednesday insider trading, Tree Island Steel (
TSX:T.TSL,
Stock Forum) insiders bought up $1.6m in shares, topping the TSX, while Great-West Lifeco (
TSX:T.GWO,
Stock Forum) honchos sold off a net value of $2.1m in that company.
On the TSX Venture Exchange insider deals list Tuesday.. well.. nothing really happened.
I tell a lie – an insider at LX Ventures (
TSX:V.LXV,
Stock Forum) traded away 73,000 shares ($26k) as that stock continued to jump in the lead-up to its December 1 launch of the Mobio social network tool. A TomaGold (
TSX:V.LOT,
Stock Forum) insider sold off $10.9k after that company did an option deal with IAMGOLD.
And someone at Serenic Corporation, which makes software for non-profits, decided to jump in on that company to the tune of $45,000, only to lose 11% of that $45,000 on the following days trading.
On Wednesday trading, the big Venture insider move was Barisan Gold (
TSX:V.BG,
Stock Forum), where someone close to the company sold $113k of stock after a nigh 200% share increase over two days, and Planet Organic Health (
TSX:V.POH.H,
Stock Forum), where an insider purchased $121k of shares.