Insiders Sell Big Blocks of Blue Chip Technology Stocks: Apple, NVIDIA, Electronics Arts, Insperity and More

[cnxvideo id=”655402″ placement=”ros”]With the windows wide open for executives and 10% owners to sell, we have seen a large flow of insider selling hit our screens over the past two weeks. In fact, insider selling has dominated buying over the past two weeks, and that should come as no surprise as insider buying dominated when the market was hit hard earlier this year. One thing is for sure, as the summer doldrums start to take hold, we will be watching for some of the items that could stir the volatility pot.

We cover insider selling every week at 24/7 Wall St., and we like to remind readers that just because an individual or 10% institutional owner sells stock, that is no cause for immediate alarm. Many top executives, and even directors, are compensated with stock and often sell just to diversify or purchase other assets.

Here are companies that reported notable insider selling last week.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) had a senior vice president at the technology giant selling shares last week. The SVP sold a total of 103,300 shares of the stock at prices between $95.50 and $95.95 apiece. The total for the sale came in right at $10 million. Apple closed Friday’s trading at $100.35, so perhaps the trigger was pulled a touch early.

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NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) is another red-hot tech company that had an insider selling shares. A director at the chip company parted with a total of 150,000 shares at prices that ranged from $45.43 to $45.50. The total for the sale was posted at $7 million. This visual computing company operates in two segments: GPU and Tegra Processor. The stock closed Friday at $45.90.

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) is yet another tech company that saw some selling last week. The video game giant had two executive vice presidents shed a total of 33,000 shares of the company at a share price of $75.00. The total for the trade was posted at $3 million. Electronic Arts develops, markets, publishes and distributes game software content and online services for video game consoles, internet-connected consoles, personal computers, mobile phones and tablets worldwide. The stock ended the week at $75.70.

Liberty Global PLC (NASDAQ: LBTYA) had a legend parting with some shares last week. Media and telecom pioneer and visionary John Malone sold a total of 850,000 shares at prices that ranged from $35.40 to $36.23. The total for the sale was listed at $31 million. Liberty Global provides video, broadband internet, fixed-line telephony and mobile services in Europe, Chile and Puerto Rico. The stock closed Friday at $37.31 per share.

Insperity Inc. (NYSE: NSP) had a gigantic institutional seller this past week. Hedge fund Starboard Value unloaded a massive block of 1,069,913 shares at prices that ranged from $69.45 to $70.34 per share. The total for the sales came in at a humongous $75 million. Insperity provides an array of human resources and business solutions to enhance business performance for small and medium-sized businesses in the United States. Its shares closed Friday at $77.17, and this was a beautifully top ticked sale as the stock had run big since the end of April.

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These companies also reported insider selling last week: DaVita Healthcare Partners Inc. (NYSE: DVA), Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON), Shake Shack Inc. (NYSE: SHAK), TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX) and VCA Inc. (NASDAQ: WOOF).

The selling volume is picking up, but much of that could be because the market has rallied strongly off the lows that were printed three months ago. Again, when the market was struggling, we saw very little selling, so this makes sense and should not be a huge concern.