Dendreon Insiders Took Huge Profits In Stock This Week (DNDN)
Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) had a whole series of FORM 4 filings that were put into the SEC for insider transactions after the close on Friday. While it is obvious that these were options and company stock grants, it was hard to not notice how many insiders sold stock. When there is hope that PROVENGE will be a blockbuster drug for advanced prostate cancer and when many believe that Dendreon might even now be a takeover target, it might at least make some wonder if employees are taking this much money out of the stock?
Mitchell Gold, President & CEO, was a very large seller with a block of 250,000 shares and another batch of shares that tallied up to around 350,000 shares. Richard Brewer, Director, sold over 100,000 shares. Blake Ingle, Director, sold over 95,000 shares. Gregory Schiffman, Senior VP, CFO & Treasurer, sold 90,000 shares. Richard Hamm Jr., SVP, General Counsel Secretary, sold 20,000 shares. Douglas Watson, Director, sold some 99,400 shares. Mark W Frohlich, SVP, CA, Officer, sold 9,482 shares. Greg Cox, Principal Accounting Officer, was also listed as a seller of common stock. If you want to see the full range of transaction prices, we have the full list posted at 24/7 Wall Street.
It is not uncommon at all to see insider un-lock periods like this, particularly after a large news event occurs. Dendreon traded under $3.00 recently, yet after the PROVENGE data it traded up as high as $27.40 and closed out the week at $22.01. Some analysts believe the company is now worth over $30.00 and we saw one target north of $40.00. We would not at all consider that this represents and insider exodus. It is not uncommon to see insiders take money off the table like this. But with PROVENGE being the next potential blockbuster and with some thinking that Dendreon could be acquired, it is hard to not notice transactions of this size where insiders take this much money off the table.
JON C. OGG
