By Shira Gonen
Between earnings season, macro concerns, and falling oil prices, the market continues to fluctuate. Corporate insiders often
have information that the public doesn’t, which makes their transactions more telling of a stocks behavior. Below are last week’s
most notable insider transactions.
Top Buys:
On February 8, Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk
purchased over $4 million worth of Tesla shares when he exercised 676,000 stock options for an exercise price of $6.63. At the time
of his transaction, shares of Tesla were trading at $147.99. The company released earnings two days later, posting lower than
expected revenues and EPS, though issuing guidance of between 80k and 90k Model S and Model X vehicles, up 60% from last year’s
guidance of 50k to 55k.
Between February 8 and February 9, Stephen Wynn, owner of
Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ: WYNN)
purchased 258,523 shares of his own company in a transaction valued at over $15 million. A few days later, the company posted
better than expected EPS though slightly missed revenue estimates. The company is currently developing the Wynn Palace Project in
Macau, expected to open in the first half of 2016.
In two separate transactions, dated February 8 and February 12, Director Marc Stern sold 25,000 shares of QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:
QCOM), totaling 50,000 shares, for $1.12 million and $1.08
million, respectively. Last week, the company held its analyst day, highlighting new products, the expansion of its licensing
business, and the collection of royalties from companies in China. However, many analysts seemed unimpressed with the company’s
plans and remain concerned about the company’s ability to scale its licensing segment.
Top Sells:
On February 8, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) insiders Alan Kelly
and James Spellings, both VPs of the company, sold $725,668 and
$940,804 worth of shares, respectively. Following suit, Executive Officer Randy Cleveland sold $783,165 worth of Exxon stock on February 11. Since
oil has been plunging for well over a year, many believe that Exxon is the last financially stable oil giant. Year-to-date, the
stock has fallen close to 13 percent.
On February 9, Zvi Lando, VP of global sales for Solaredge
Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: SEDG), bought over 61,000 options
of for an exercise price of $1.50 before converting them into common stock and selling them for an average price of $23.50, for a
total of over $1.5 million. Lando joins two other insiders who sold shares of the company on the same day. SolarEdge released
earnings last week, posting y/y increases in revenue and EPS, while also issuing positive guidance.
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