Dendreon Insiders Unload Stock (DNDN)

There was an interesting twist in the ongoing Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) story that developed after 5:00 PM Friday.  There was a whole series of FORM 4 filings insider sales filings with the SEC.  While it is obvious that most of these were options being exercised and company stock grants, it was hard to not notice how many insiders sold stock.  If the insiders sold this many shares, it is very likely that other company employees sold as well.  This is probably not such a surprise when you have a company’s stock rise tenfold from the lows and when many employees become instant stock option millionaires.  But still, there is the hope that Dendreon will have a blockbuster drug for advanced prostate cancer after  (and if) PROVENGE is approved by the FDA at some point in 2010.  There are many who believe that Dendreon might even now be a takeover target.  Considering that, does it at least make you wonder if employees are taking this much money out of the stock?

Mark W Frohlich, SVP, CA, Officer, sold 9,482 shares that were listed as $4.90 purchase price and on 04/30/2009 sold at $22.00; still has 178,874 listed as direct shares.

Greg Cox, Principal Accounting Officer, sold 5,625 shares that were listed as $5.58 purchase price and on 4/29/2009 sold at $26.82; sold 1,413 shares that were listed as $4.30 purchase price and on same date sold at $26.82; also sold 1,756 that were listed as $6.39 purchase price and on same date sold at $26.82;  There were two other batches of 9,578 shares and 2,164 shares thatwere both sold on same date at $26.82; total remaining shares were noted as 24,571.

Douglas Watson, Director, sold some 99,400 shares at prices all listed as $23.3399, and these were listed with purchase prices of $1.82 to $14.25.

Mitchell Gold, President & CEO, was a very large seller.  The list of transactions was long, but there was a block of 250,000 shares which were listed with a purchase price of $7.56 and were sold at an average of $24.9206.  The rest of the shares sold look to tally up around 350,000 shares with purchase prices ranging from $4.41 to $9.25 and those were also sold at an average price of $24.9206.  He is still noted as holding 486,536 shares of company stock.

Richard Brewer, Director, sold what looked to be 104,171 shares of common stock on 4/29/2009 in a range of prices from $24.28 to $25.45, and the listed purchase prices were $4.90 to $14.488.

Blake Ingle, Director, sold over 95,000 shares of common stock on 4/29/2009 in a range of prices from $23.2939 to $24.3135, and the listed purchase prices were $2.98 to $12.14.

Gregory Schiffman,  Senior VP, CFO & Treasurer, sold 90,000 shares of of common stock on 4/29/2009 at an average price of $23.2612 and no purchase price was listed; his stock ownership is still listed as 261,316 shares.

Richard Hamm Jr., SVP, General Counsel Secretary, sold 20,000 shares of common stock on 4/29/2009 at an average of $24.0298 per share and no purchase price was listed; his stock ownership is still listed as 240,878 shares.

It is not uncommon at all to see insider un-lock periods like this, particularly after a large news event occurs.  You can look these over yourself at the SEC link.

This stock traded under $3.00 recently, yet after the PROVENGE data it traded up as high as $27.40 and closed out the week at $22.01.  Some analysts believe the company is now worth over $30.00 and we saw one target north of $40.00.  We would not at all consider that this represents an outright insider exodus.  It is not uncommon to see insiders take money off the table like this.  But with PROVENGE being the next potential blockbuster and with some thinking that Dendreon could be acquired, it is hard to not notice transactions of this size where insiders take this much money off the table.

JON C. OGG