Airtran Officers selling some stock..

[Frequency]

is there something happening or is this just normal?

http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=87912

CEO Recent Trades:

• Sell:: PRESIDENT/CEO Robert L Fornaro sold 2,500 shares of AAI stock on 03/17/2010 at the average price of 5.42.
• Sell:: PRESIDENT/CEO Robert L Fornaro sold 10,000 shares of AAI stock on 02/22/2010 at the average price of 5.06, the price of the stock has increased by 7.11% since.
• Sell:: PRESIDENT/CEO Robert L Fornaro sold 10,000 shares of AAI stock on 02/22/2010 at the average price of 5.06, the price of the stock has increased by 7.11% since.
• Sell:: PRESIDENT/CEO Robert L Fornaro sold 37,388 shares of AAI stock on 11/03/2009 at the average price of 4.21, the price of the stock has increased by 28.74% since.

Directors and Officers Recent Trades:

• Sell:: SR VP OPERATIONS Stephen J Kolski sold 10,000 shares of AAI stock on 02/25/2010 at the average price of 4.8, the price of the stock has increased by 12.92% since.
• Sell:: SR. VP. CUSTOMER SERVICE Alfred J Smith Iii sold 7,311 shares of AAI stock on 02/09/2010 at the average price of 4.74, the price of the stock has increased by 14.35% since.
• Sell:: SR VP OPERATIONS Stephen J Kolski sold 33,493 shares of AAI stock on 02/09/2010 at the average price of 4.74, the price of the stock has increased by 14.35% since.
• Sell:: 10% Owner Investment Partners Lp Par sold 42,900 shares of AAI stock on 09/28/2009 at the average price of 6.51, the price of the stock has decreased by 16.74% since.
• Sell:: 10% Owner Investment Partners Lp Par sold 44,316 shares of AAI stock on 09/25/2009 at the average price of 6.5, the price of the stock has decreased by 16.62% since.

 

[maxblast72]

Considering Fornaro has around 900,000 shares of stock under his control and the whole Board of Directors and senior executive officers of Airtran have 2.5 million shares of AAI, these recent sales don't appear to large. Fornaro's sale on 3/17/10 is big enough to buy a kid a decent used car.

This large amount of stock owned by upper management is some of our largest leverage on management. If they take a strike, they risk losing their 2.5 million shares if Airtran does end up filing Chapter 11 (shares would essentially become worthless). I don't see management letting that happen.

 

[JerryLundegaard]

None of those links for the officers names work. 404 errors come up.

 

[Dieterly]

Shouldn't this be in the Majors section?

 

[RIDETHELIGHTING]

somebody must of needed a new toy..

 

[mkingmei]

Seems like everyones a Major now

If Airtran is a major, ASA needs to be in there too.

 

[Mike man]

It is part of their compensation...all the C level guys and VP type all buy shares for pennies on the dollar and sell them at market price, or they are just given X number of shares to hold on to for a specified time then they can do what they want with them.

If you pick just about any company, and click on "INSIDER TRANSACTIONS" it will list the buy and sell orders these guys have put as well as any majority or large share holder. I don't think we have a new ENRON on our hands.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=AAI

One insider trading company I always enjoy looking at the RJET, these guys make a boat load of money buying shares at $1.00 a piece and selling them for 12.50 or whatever the market price is.

 

[RIDETHELIGHTING]

If Airtran is a major, ASA needs to be in there too.

That really doesn't make sense, since they don't generate any revenue on their own. Its not hard to make money when every flight is guaranteed to brung in money.

 

[PropPiedmont]

Maybe they want to sell before the strike vote is in. Would look kind of bad if a strike authorization is approved, and then all the execs sell their stock.

 

[Colonel Savage]

But if they wait for the strike vote passes to sell, it would be too late. Oh, wait...

 

[dicko]

If Airtran is a major, ASA needs to be in there too.

OK. You're an FO at a major flying an RJ.

Happy ? How does that feel.

Not such a bad idea really ...... Got scope ?

 

[mkingmei]

OK. You're an FO at a major flying an RJ.

Happy ? How does that feel.

Not such a bad idea really ...... Got scope ?

Typical!!!!
That would make sense if I were an FO...
All I was saying is that Airtran doesn't belong in a major category any more that ASA does... get it?
Perhaps we should be flying RJ's at majors, it might get rid of some of the BS in the industry.

 

[jimcav]

Typical!!!!
That would make sense if I were an FO...
All I was saying is that Airtran doesn't belong in a major category any more that ASA does... get it?
Perhaps we should be flying RJ's at majors, it might get rid of some of the BS in the industry.

You're not really a major if you're wearin someone elses paint on the side of your planes.

 

[maxblast72]

I always used the saying if the name written on the paycheck doesn't match the name painted on the side of the airplane, you are working for a contractor that can be replaced someday so you need to keep trying to get somewhere else. Finally, at my third airline, the paycheck name matches the side of the airplane.

 

[FIREMAN]

If Airtran is a major, ASA needs to be in there too.

Perhaps Majors should be changed to Legacies , but I am sure someone still cry over that.

 

[dicko]

Typical!!!!
That would make sense if I were an FO...
All I was saying is that Airtran doesn't belong in a major category any more that ASA does... get it?
Perhaps we should be flying RJ's at majors, it might get rid of some of the BS in the industry.

Apologies.

OK. You're a Captain at a major. That must feel even better ... Happier?

Just playing man.

 

[Kharma Police]

If Airtran is a major, ASA needs to be in there too.

Skywest owns you, therefore they are the major, not ASA.

 

[Volasl]

Most likely these are pre scheduled sales of stock options. With the airline sector up double digit growth in the last few months many execs are taking advantage of their options.

While insider buying is usually a good sign, don't be alarmed by insider selling, unless there is a lot of it - insiders tend to buy because they have positive expectations, but they may sell for reasons independent of their expectations for the company.

Look for clusters of activity by several insiders. If a company has more than one insider trading similarly over a short period, there's a sign of a consensus of insider opinion. Also, large transactions mean more than small trades.

It's important to know which insiders to watch. Insiders with proven track records with their Form 4 activity should be watched more closely than those with little or poor past records. The most telling trading activity comes from top executives with the best insights into the company, so look for transactions by CEOs and CFOs.

Finally, be careful about placing too much stake in insider trading since the documents reporting them can be hard to interpret. A lot of Form 4 trades do not represent buying and selling that relate to future stock performance. The exercise of stock options, for instance, shows up as both a buy and a sell on Form 4 documents, so it is a dubious signal to follow. Automatic trading is another activity that is hard to interpret - to protect themselves from lawsuits, insiders set up guidelines for buying and selling, and leave the execution to someone else. SEC Form 4 documents disclose these hands-off insider transactions, but they don't always state that the sales were scheduled far ahead of time.