Introduction

This page provides a comprehensive analysis of the known insider trading history of Armin M Kessler. Insiders are officers, directors, or significant investors in a company. It is illegal for insiders to make trades in their companies based on specific, non-public information. This does not mean it is illegal for them to make any trades in their own companies. However, they must report all trades to the SEC via a Form 4. Despite these restrictions, academic research suggests that insiders - in general - tend to outperform the market in their own companies.

Average Trade Profitability

The average trade profitability is the average return of all the open market purchases made by the insider in the last three years. To calculate this, we examine every open-market, unplanned purchase made by the insider, excluding all trades that were marked as part of a 10b5-1 trading plan. We then calculate the average performance of those trades over 3, 6, and 12 months, averaging each of those durations to generate a final performance metric for each trade. Finally, we average all of the performance metrics to calculate a performance metric for the insider. This list only includes insiders that have made at least three trades in the last two years.

If this insiders trade profitability is "N/A", then the insider either has not made any open-market purchases in the last three years, or the trades they’ve made are too recent to calculate a reliable performance metric.

Update Frequency: Daily

See the list of most profitable insider traders.

Companies with Reported Insider Positions

The SEC filings indicate Armin M Kessler has reported holdings or trades in the following companies:

Security Title Latest Reported Holdings
US:MDCO / Medicines Company Director 0
Director 0
US:SPPI / Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Director 10,000
How to Interpret the Charts

The following charts show the stock performance of securities subsequent to each open-market, non-planned trade made by Armin M Kessler. Non-planned trade are trades that were not made as part of a 10b5-1 trading plan. The stock performance is charted as cumulative percent change in share price. For example, if an insider trade was made on January 1, 2019, the chart will show the daily percent change of the security to the present day. If the share price were to go from $10 to $15 during this time, the cumulative percent change in share price would be 50%. A change in price from $10 to $20 would be 100%, and a change in price of $10 to $5 would be -50%.

Ultimately, we are trying to determine how closely the insider’s trades correlate to excess returns (positive or negative) in the share price in order to see if the insider is timing their trades to profit from insider information. Consider the situation where an insider was doing this. In this situation, we would expect either (a) positive returns after purchases, or (b) negative returns after sales. In the case of (a), the PURCHASE chart would show a series of upwardly sloping curves, indicating positive returns after each purchase transaction. In the case of (b), the SALE chart would show a series of downward sloping curves, indicating negative returns after each sale transaction.

However, this alone is not enough to draw conclusions. If, for example, the share price of the company was in a non-cyclical climb over many years, then we would expect all the post-purchase plots to be upwardly sloping. Likewise, non-cyclical declines over many years would result in downward sloping post-trade plots. Neither of these charts would suggest insider trading activity.

The strongest indicator would be a situation where the share price was extremely cyclical, and there were both positive signals in the PURCHASE chart and negative plots on the SALE chart. This situation would be highly suggestive of an insider that was timing trades to their financial advantage.

Insider Trading History

This table shows the complete list of insider trades made by Armin M Kessler as disclosed to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).

File Date Tran Date Form Ticker Security Code 10b5-1 Shares Remaining Shares Percent
Change
Share
Price
Tran
Value
Remaining
Value
2018-05-14 2018-05-10 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Stock Option (right-to-buy)
M - Exercise -7,500 0 -100.00
2018-05-14 2018-05-10 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Common Stock
M - Exercise 7,500 138,493 5.73 18.30 137,250 2,534,422
2018-04-18 2018-04-16 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Common Stock
S - Sale X -10,000 130,993 -7.09 30.05 -300,500 3,936,340
2018-04-18 2018-01-16 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Common Stock
S - Sale X -10,000 140,993 -6.62 27.37 -273,700 3,858,978
2017-05-30 2017-05-25 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Stock Option (right-to-buy)
A - Award 8,577 8,577
2017-05-30 2017-05-25 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Common Stock
A - Award 3,237 150,993 2.19
2017-03-15 2017-03-13 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Stock Option (right-to-buy)
M - Exercise -7,500 0 -100.00
2017-03-15 2017-03-13 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Common Stock
M - Exercise 7,500 147,756 5.35 19.60 147,000 2,896,018
2016-05-31 2016-05-26 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Stock Option (right-to-buy)
A - Award 9,700 9,700
2016-05-31 2016-05-26 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Common Stock
A - Award 3,426 140,256 2.50
2016-03-08 2016-03-07 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Stock Option (right-to-buy)
M - Exercise -15,000 0 -100.00
2016-03-08 2016-03-07 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Common Stock
S - Sale -8,100 136,830 -5.59 34.82 -282,042 4,764,421
2016-03-08 2016-03-07 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Common Stock
M - Exercise 15,000 144,930 11.54 18.60 279,000 2,695,698
2015-06-01 2015-05-28 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Stock Option (right-to-buy)
A - Award 11,512 11,512
2015-06-01 2015-05-28 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Common Stock
A - Award 4,531 129,930 3.61
2015-05-15 2015-05-13 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Stock Option (right-to-buy)
M - Exercise -15,000 0 -100.00
2015-05-15 2015-05-13 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Common Stock
S - Sale -12,475 125,399 -9.05 25.87 -322,723 3,244,022
2015-05-15 2015-05-13 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Common Stock
M - Exercise 15,000 137,874 12.21 21.45 321,750 2,957,397
2014-06-02 2014-05-29 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Stock Option (right-to-buy)
A - Award 10,016 10,016
2014-06-02 2014-05-29 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Common Stock
A - Award 4,590 122,874 3.88
2013-05-31 2013-05-30 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Option (Right-to-buy)
A - Award 9,763 9,763
2013-05-31 2013-05-30 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Common Stock
A - Award 3,849 118,284 3.36
2013-05-31 2013-05-29 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Option (Right-to-buy)
M - Exercise -12,500 0 -100.00
2013-05-31 2013-05-29 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Common Stock
S - Sale -8,750 114,435 -7.10 33.05 -289,188 3,782,077
2013-05-31 2013-05-29 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Common Stock
M - Exercise 12,500 123,185 11.29 23.00 287,500 2,833,255
2012-12-18 2012-12-14 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Common Stock
S - Sale -11,500 110,685 -9.41 21.76 -250,240 2,408,506
2012-08-02 2012-08-01 4 GPRO GEN PROBE INC
Stock Option (Right to Buy)
D - Sale to Issuer -7,500 0 -100.00
2012-08-02 2012-08-01 4 GPRO GEN PROBE INC
Stock Option (Right to Buy)
D - Sale to Issuer -7,500 0 -100.00 37.10 -278,250
2012-08-02 2012-08-01 4 GPRO GEN PROBE INC
Stock Option (Right to Buy)
D - Sale to Issuer -7,500 0 -100.00 39.51 -296,325
2012-08-02 2012-08-01 4 GPRO GEN PROBE INC
Stock Option (Right to Buy)
D - Sale to Issuer -7,500 0 -100.00 25.00 -187,500
2012-08-02 2012-08-01 4 GPRO GEN PROBE INC
Stock Option (Right to Buy)
D - Sale to Issuer -10,000 0 -100.00 28.66 -286,600
2012-08-02 2012-08-01 4 GPRO GEN PROBE INC
Stock Option (Right to Buy)
D - Sale to Issuer -10,000 0 -100.00 30.06 -300,600
2012-08-02 2012-08-01 4 GPRO GEN PROBE INC
Stock Option (Right to Buy)
D - Sale to Issuer -10,000 0 -100.00 39.20 -392,000
2012-08-02 2012-08-01 4 GPRO GEN PROBE INC
Stock Option (Right to Buy)
D - Sale to Issuer -10,000 0 -100.00 40.81 -408,100
2012-08-02 2012-08-01 4 GPRO GEN PROBE INC
Common Stock
D - Sale to Issuer -12,181 0 -100.00 82.75 -1,007,978
2012-05-24 2012-05-22 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Option (right to buy)
A - Award 12,039 12,039
2012-05-24 2012-05-22 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Common Stock
A - Award 5,086 122,185 4.34
2012-04-04 2012-04-02 4 GPRO GEN PROBE INC
Common Stock
A - Award 156 12,181 1.30 67.26 10,493 819,294
2012-03-15 2012-03-14 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Option (right to buy)
M - Exercise -7,500 0 -100.00
2012-03-15 2012-03-14 4 MDCO MEDICINES CO /DE
Common Stock
M - Exercise 7,500 117,099 6.84 8.51 63,825 996,512
2012-03-08 2012-03-06 4 GPRO GEN PROBE INC
Stock Option (Right to Buy)
M - Exercise -10,000 0 -100.00
2012-03-08 2012-03-06 4 GPRO GEN PROBE INC
Common Stock
S - Sale -2,853 12,025 -19.18 67.34 -192,121 809,764
2012-03-08 2012-03-06 4 GPRO GEN PROBE INC
Common Stock
M - Exercise 10,000 14,878 205.00 19.18 191,850 285,434
2012-01-05 2012-01-03 4 GPRO GEN PROBE INC
Common Stock
A - Award 178 4,878 3.79 58.93 10,490 287,461
2005-03-15 2005-03-14 4 SPPI SPECTRUM PHARMACEUTICALS INC
Stock Option (right to buy)
A - Award 10,000 10,000
2005-01-05 2005-01-03 4 SPPI SPECTRUM PHARMACEUTICALS INC
Stock Option (right to buy)
A - Award 20,000 20,000
2004-07-13 2004-07-10 4 SPPI SPECTRUM PHARMACEUTICALS INC
Stock Option (Right to Buy)
A - Award 20,000 20,000
2004-02-05 2003-09-12 4 SPPI SPECTRUM PHARMACEUTICALS INC
Stock Option (right to buy)
A - Award 5,000 5,000
2004-02-05 2003-07-31 4 SPPI SPECTRUM PHARMACEUTICALS INC
Stock Option (right to buy)
A - Award 15,000 15,000
P
Open market or private purchase of non-derivative or derivative security
S
Open market or private sale of non-derivative or derivative security
A
Grant, award, or other acquisition of securities from the company (such as an option)
C
Conversion of derivative
D
Sale or transfer of securities back to the company
F
Payment of exercise price or tax liability using portion of securities received from the company
G
Gift of securities by or to the insider
K
Equity swaps and similar hedging transactions
M
Exercise or conversion of derivative security received from the company (such as an option)
V
A transaction voluntarily reported on Form 4
J
Other (accompanied by a footnote describing the transaction)