By Grace L. Williams
Was it a calculated move?
Five Hewlett-Packard executive vice presidents sold 357,836
shares for $12,342,820, an average of $34.49 each, from Oct. 6
through 17. The transactions included planned 10b5-1 sales,
open-market sales, and options exercises that followed HP's
announcement it was going to split into two companies.
Henry Gomez, chief marketing and communications officer,
exercised options and sold his entire direct stake of 70,250 HP
(ticker: HPQ) shares for $2,600,655 through 10b5-1 planned sales.
Regulatory filings show the options were exercised at $21.30 each
and were set to expire Sept. 26, 2021. Gomez's most recent previous
transaction was on Aug. 22, when he exercised options and sold
14,600 shares for $540,100, an average of $37 each, also through a
planned sale.
George Kadifa, executive vice president of Strategic
Relationships, exercised options and sold 169,137 shares for
$5,719,812. This marked his first transaction as an HP insider. He
now holds 913 shares directly. The options were exercised at $22.80
each and were set to expire on May 29, 2020, at the earliest.
William Veghte, general manager of HP's Enterprise Group, sold
50,000 shares for $1,694,100. He now directly holds 114,355 shares.
His most recent previous transaction was on Dec. 4, 2012, when he
bought 23,000 shares for $298,900, an average of $12.99 each.
Martin Fink, chief technology officer, director of HP Labs and
general manager of HP's Network Function Virtualization Group,
exercised options and sold 47,694 shares in his first open-market
transaction for $1,623,346. The options were exercised at prices
ranging from $21.30 to $28.41 and were set to expire on Sept. 27,
2019, at the earliest.
Robert Youngjohns, general manager of HP Software and member of
HP's Executive Council, sold 20,755 shares for $704,906. This was
his first open-market transaction.
All five own stakes of less than 1% in HP.
Gomez joined HP in 2011 and is a former eBay ( EBAY) executive.
Kadifa was formerly executive vice president of HP Software. Veghte
most recently served as chief operating officer of HP before his
current post. Fink has been with the company since 1985. Youngjohns
is a former Microsoft ( MSFT) executive.
A spokeswoman for HP was not immediately available to comment on
the sales.
On Oct. 6, the company said it would separate its PC and
printing operations from corporate hardware and services operations
by the end of fiscal 2015.
Last week, HP resumed a share-buyback program and noted that
"our share price does not reflect HP's intrinsic value."
Nonetheless the stock has made substantial gains in 2014.
HP shares closed at $34.49 on Wednesday, a dividend-adjusted
gain of 25% for the calendar-year-to-date.
A day after HP announced the split, Morningstar analyst Peter
Wahlstrom lifted the fair-value estimate to $34 from $29.
"Over the next 12-15 months we expect further rationalizing and
efficiency gains across all segments, but we anticipate that the
bulk of the incremental benefit will be reinvested in the business
(which is a good long-term plan)," Wahlstrom wrote in a research
report. "We are changing our narrow economic moat rating or
negative moat trend at this time, but it's something we will
continue to monitor." He rates HP three stars out of five.
Here's a rundown of insider trading activity reported onOct. 22.
An insider is any officer, director or owner of 10% or more of a
class of the company's securities. The table shows purchases and
sales which must be reported to the SEC and other regulators by the
10th of the month following the month of the trade, includes both
open-market and private transactions involving direct and indirect
holdings. Excludes stock valued at less that $2 per share,
acquisitions through options and companies being acquired. Included
are purchases, sales and stock registered for sale for individual
officers, companies, and sectors.
AC-member of the advisory committee. AF-affiliated person.
AI-affiliate of investment advisor. AV-assistant vice president.
B-beneficial owner of more than 10% of a security class.
BC-beneficial owner as custodian. BT-beneficial owner as trustee.
C-controller. CB-chairman. CC-member of the compensation committee.
CEO-chief executive officer. CFO-chief financial officer. CI-chief
investment officer. CO-chief operating officer. CP-controlling
person. CT-chief technology officer. D-director. DO-director and
beneficial owner. DS-indirect shareholder. EC-member of the
executive committee. EVP-executive vice president. F-founder.
FC-member of the finance committee. FO-former. GC-general counsel.
GM-general manager. GP-general partner. H-officer, director and
beneficial owner. I-indirect transaction filed through a trust,
insider spouse, minor child or other. IA-investment advisor.
LP-limited partner. M-managing partner. MC-member of committee or
advisory board. MD-managing director. O-officer. OB-officer and
beneficial owner. OD-officer and director. OE-other executive.
OP-officer of parent company. OS-officer of subsidiary company.
OT-officer and treasurer. OX-divisional officer. P-president.
R-retired. S-secretary. SC-member of the science/technology
committee. SH-shareholder. SVP-senior vice president. T-trustee.
TR-treasurer. UT-unknown. VC-vice chairman. VP-vice president.
VT-voting trustee. X-deceased.
*-Half of the transactions were indirect.
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