You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Directors buying’ category.
On September 26th in ‘ITV directors dip their toes in the water- add to watchlist’ I noted purchases by three directors/senior managers at ITV (ITV, 39.5p) . I wanted to see further purchases before I bought the shares.
Over the last fortnight two non execs have also bought shares, in limited size, taking the number of directors buying shares to five.
Heather Killen, non exec, on October 1st bought 22,000 shares at 43p, initiating a position, and on October 9th Agnes Touraine, also a non exec, bought 100,000 shares at 37.5p.
Although these are relatively small purchases in $$ terms, it should be noted that all the five directors who have purchased shares (Griffiths- CFO, Fincham- Director of Television, Russell- Deputy Chairman, Killen- non exec, and Touraine – non exec) have initiated positions in ITV in the last month.
As a result of this, and the number of directors buying shares, the recent transactions act as a STRONG signal to investors.
View on ITV: POSITIVE- Directors buying shares
Strength of Signal: STRONG
Link to all comments on ITV.
On April 25th we saw Samir Brikho, CEO of Amec (AMEC, 525p), increasing his holding by 50% and investing close to GBP 500k ‘Amec– a difference of opinion CEO buys, CFO sells.’
On Friday October 10th Brikho bought a further 50,000 shares at 497p, investing GBP 250k, taking his holding to 232,000 shares.
Other directors have also been active:
October 7th Non executive Tim Faithfull buys 5000 shares at 533p, doubling his holding to 10,000 shares, and
October 8th, Jock Green-Armytage, Non executive Chairman, increases his holding by 50% by buying 5000 shares at 509p.
Also in September Ian McHoul, the new CFO, bought 9000 shares at 746p to take his holding to 60,000 shares.
In the three months after Brikhos April 25th purchases, Amec outperformed the FTSE 100 by 30%. They have now given up all that outperformance against the index, and with the share price near 500p represent another opportunity.
View of Directors dealings: Positive signal with three directors buying in the last week.
Strength of signal: Remains STRONG
For all Amec comments click here.
Back in May this year four executive members of the board (White, Farley, Kiloran and Bryant) of Persimmon (PSN, 377p) sold shares at 567p. Within eight weeks Persimmon shares were trading at 220p.
On September 30th we saw the first purchase of shares at Persimmon by the senior independent non executive director David Thompson. Mr Thompson invested almost GBP 80,000 for various members of his family by buying 20,000 shares at 398p.
Thompson increased his (and his familys’) holding in Persimmon by 50%, taking their holding to 60,000 shares.
These purchases don’t score highly on my ‘significance’ rating, because only one director is buying shares. I thought it worth recording though due to the size (GBP 80k) and the increase in shareholding (50%).
View of directors dealings: Positive- director is buying shares
Significance of the transaction: Low / Weak as only one director buying shares
In a year of turmoil for ITV (ITV, 43.5p) due to advertising slowdown, a switch away from viewing TV to computers and many other ongoing dramas, the ITV share price has fallen from 121p high in May last year, to a low of 38p in July this year.
If you look at the recent press comment, there is an ongoing discussion with Ofcom over how much ITV can cut back to reduce its costs.
In this time of turmoil it is therefore intriguing to see directors starting to buy.
Ian Griffiths, CFO, on September 10th bought 100,000 shares at 47.2p, initiating his holding, only a day after he was appointed (did he feel duty bound to buy shares to shares?).
Peter Fincham, Director of Television, on September 24th bought 350,000 shares at 42.75p, also initiating a position.
And Sir George Russell, the Deputy Chairman, via Lady Russell, bought 57,000 shares at 43p on September 24th, taking their holding to 62,000 shares.
I’d like to see a few other directors buy shares at these levels, especially when they’ve paid prices 50-150% higher in the past. In particular Cresswell, Ormerod and Crosby.
In the meantime these transactions merit a ‘WEAK signal’, with the potential to be upgraded pending further director purchases.
Tempus on Wednesday declared that ‘Tate and Lyles share price caning is an opportunity to buy back in’, after the share price fell 10% over the judges decision of a patent case on sucralose.
Clearly management at Tate and Lyle (TATE, 384p) agree with Tempus. Six directors bought shares at just over 380p on Wednesday and Thursday this week, investing just under GBP 30k each on avearge, and increasing their holdings by an average of close to 60%.
Directors have been active at prices between 380p and 440p since October last year, taking the total number of directors (exec and non exec) buying shares to seven out of a board of 10, a significant proportion.
I’d love to see a bit more cash committed by directors, but in light of the consistent buying over the year, the % increase in holdings, and the high proportion of the board participating, I believe these share purchases to be a STRONG signal.
Signal strength: STRONG
For details of directors activity see www.digitallook.com, type in TATE, and choose Director Deals tab.
followthedirectors... a study of directors share dealings 