In reviewing SEC Form 4 Filings for BRCM since the company went public on 04/17/98, insiders have sold a total of 22,569,234 shares worth $2,629,988,534.16 (yes, that $2.6 BILLION) as follows:
2002: 1,492,642 shares, $51,094,190.38 proceeds, $34.23 per share average.
2001: 4,254,212 shares, $200,404,378.44 proceeds, $47.11 per share average.
2000: 6,293,987 shares $1,322,318,338.26 proceeds, $210.09 per share average.
1999: 7,621,908 shares, $876,061,658.33 proceeds, $114.94 per share average.
1998: 2,906,485 shares, $180,109,968.75 proceeds, $61.97 per share average.
Henry Samueli was the first to gate, just three trading days following the IPO on 04/21/98, selling 375,000 shares at $24. Intel was second, just six months beyond the IPO on 10/20/98, unloading 750,000 shares at $64.24.
The most recent seller, ironically (or expectedly) was Henry Samueli, disposing of another 50,142 shares at $17.89. He now owns a total of 4 shares, yes, FOUR shares.
Henry T. Nicholas III, Chairman of the Board, owns 107 shares – less than most BRCM longs here – as of as 08/19/02. At no time has Nicholas, or the Nicholas Family Trust, ever owned more than 107 shares each. Vahid Manian, VP, appears to have the most "faith" in the company, holding a total of 61,674 shares as of 11/13/01, though keep in mind he's already unloaded more than 4 times that amount, 259,200 shares, for a total take of $33,171,335.00.
One has to ask, with interest rates so low, why sell a stock with so much growth potential?
Another thing I found rather curious in reviewing the SEC Form 4 filings, digging further into the Form 144 filings, was the that MORGAN STANLEY did the largest volume of business for insiders, helping to dispose of 12,084,572 shares. Compare that with 21 other brokerage firms who handled only 1,736,544 insider shares, and Morgan did more than 7 times the volume of 21 other brokerages combined.
Now wasn't it MORGAN STANLEY who upgraded the stock to "Overweight" from "Equal Weight" on 06/18/02 helping the stock to hit a short-term high of $23.56? Wasn't this also the same MORGAN STANLEY that on 11/29/00 – when the stock closed at $95 – upgraded the stock from Outperform to Strong Buy, citing the "recent sell-off, strength of business conditions and current valuation parameters (those 'valuations parameters' being 206 times earnings)."
Coincidence? hmmmm.....:) |
