Top Stocks Sold as Insiders Take Advantage of Huge Market Rally

Each week at 24/7 Wall St., we cover insider selling activity, and for the most part the sellers have been noticeably absent for most of the month of October. However, the big rally has enticed some to begin selling shares. As a reminder, insider selling is not always a negative. Many times insiders are simply diversifying portfolios or have other investment objectives.

Here is this past week’s notable insider selling activity.

Credit Acceptance Corp. (NASDAQ: CACC) saw a massive liquidation by a top insider this week. The chairman of the board sold a huge block of 430,967 shares at $125.50 apiece. The take-down for the sale was an incredible $54.1 million. The stock was trading at $147.56 on Friday’s close. There may be a little seller’s remorse after that trade.

Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) saw the CEO and the vice chairman of the blue-chip industrial sell a block of 142,508 shares at prices that stretched from $92.68 to $93.84 apiece. The total for the sale was an impressive $13.3 million. The shares ended the week at $96.12.

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Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ: CELG) is a top biotech stock that saw some significant insider selling. A director at the company sold 100,000 shares of the stock at $102.90. The total liquidation came to a very tidy $10.3 million. The shares were trading at the end of Friday’s session at $107.09, so some pretty big money was left on the table.

EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) is a blue-chip technology name that also saw some large insider trading from two high-ranking players. A director at the storage giant sold 200,000 shares of stock at prices ranging from $28.37 to $28.44. The total sale came to a sizable total of $5.7 million. The vice chairman also sold 50,000 shares of the stock at $27.83, for a total sale of $1.4 million. EMC was trading at $28.73 as the week’s trading came to a close.

Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. (NYSE: COG) is a top energy company that saw an insider sell shares. Again, yet another director sold 100,000 shares at prices that ranged from $30.62 to $30.89. The total for the sale was $3.1 million. Shares were changing hands as of Friday’s close at $31.10.

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) joins the parade of the high-profile stocks with insider selling. The chief financial officer and an executive vice president at the retailing giant sold a total of 22,288 shares between them at prices ranging from $131.60 to $131.90. The total for the sales came to a very solid $2.9 million. Costco closed Friday at $133.37.

Bank of the Ozarks Inc. (NASDAQ: OZRK) is a top regional banking stock that saw selling this past week. The CEO and a director at the bank sold a total of 65,344 shares at $33.49. The total for the two sellers came to $2.1 million. Shares of the stock were trading at $35.24 on Friday’s close. Again, some money was left on the table.

Here are some additional companies that had insider selling this week: General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD), ServiceNow Inc. (NYSE: NOW) and Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL).

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It is no surprise that insiders are selling stock at these lofty levels. Most of these top blue-chip companies are in outstanding shape and reported very solid third-quarter results. Investors do not need to be overly concerned about the sales, it would seem, given the solid forward prospects for these companies and the economy.