Directors dealings: Phoenix Group buys in near five-year highs

Phoenix Group non-executive director Wendy Mayall bought into the company's shares roughly a month after the life insurance fund consolidator said it hit its 2016 target for cash regeneration of £486.0m.

The firm also expected to make at least £250m from the integration of the AXA businesses within six months of completion of the acquisition.

Mayall purchased 10,000 shares on 14 February at an individual price of 761.0p.

A fortnight earlier, on 30 January, analysts at Deutsche Bank bumped up their recommendation on the stock to 'buy' and set a target price of 835p.

"Phoenix has finally emerged from seven years of balance sheet recovery with the announcement of two acquisitions in 2016. We think investors are under-estimating the rapid improvement in solvency and debt capacity over 2017e-2018e. Specifically, we think a hypothetical £1.0bn - £1.5bn acquisition could be funded principally out of cash and debt rather than equity, adding either side of 25% to future value - something that in our view is not sufficiently reflected in the current share price," said analyst Oliver Steel.

Shares in the fund consolidator were then trading not far off their 52-week highs and from their best levels of the past five years.

Top Director Buys

Bank Of America Corp. (BAC)
Director name: Donofrio,Paul
Amount purchased: 119,599 @ $23.40
Value: $2,798,616.55

Phoenix Group Holdings (di) (PHNX)
Director name: Mayall,Wendy
Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 761.03p
Value: £76,103.00

Maven Income And Growth Vct 6 (MIG6)
Director name: Nixon,William
Amount purchased: 127,637 @ 58.76p
Value: £74,999.50

Xafinity (XAF)
Director name: Brown,Tom Cross
Amount purchased: 35,971 @ 139.00p
Value: £49,999.69

Georgian Mining Corporation Npv (di) (GEO)
Director name: McIllree,Roderick
Amount purchased: 500,000 @ 9.83p
Value: £49,125.00

Xafinity (XAF)
Director name: Bannatyne,Alan
Amount purchased: 32,374 @ 139.00p
Value: £44,999.86

Georgian Mining Corporation Npv (di) (GEO)
Director name: McIllree,Roderick
Amount purchased: 320,000 @ 9.06p
Value: £28,992.00

Upland Resources Limited (di) (UPL)
Director name: Bin Haji Di,Bolhassan
Amount purchased: 2,500,000 @ $0.01
Value: $25,686.36

Benchmark Holdings (BMK)
Director name: Quinn,Kevin
Amount purchased: 25,000 @ 94.04p
Value: £23,510.00

British Empire Trust (BTEM)
Director name: Rich,Nigel Mervyn Sutherland
Amount purchased: 3,000 @ 665.75p
Value: £19,972.50

(RFX)
Director name: Herrick,Simon Edward
Amount purchased: 19,950 @ 100.00p
Value: £19,950.00

World Careers Network (WOR)
Director name: Moore,David
Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 190.00p
Value: £19,000.00

Faroe Petroleum (FPM)
Director name: Stewart,Graham
Amount purchased: 9,905 @ 111.20p
Value: £11,014.36

Georgian Mining Corporation Npv (di) (GEO)
Director name: Kuenzel ACA,Gregory
Amount purchased: 100,000 @ 9.88p
Value: £9,875.00

Faroe Petroleum (FPM)
Director name: Hammer,Helge
Amount purchased: 8,109 @ 111.20p
Value: £9,017.21

Faroe Petroleum (FPM)
Director name: Cooper,Jonathan
Amount purchased: 6,689 @ 111.20p
Value: £7,438.17

Temple Bar Inv Trust (TMPL)
Director name: de Moller,June F
Amount purchased: 38 @ 1,261.25p
Value: £479.28

Johnson Matthey (JMAT)
Director name: Kelleher,Annette
Amount purchased: 12 @ 3,116.08p
Value: £373.93

Johnson Matthey (JMAT)
Director name: Garner,Nicholas
Amount purchased: 12 @ 3,116.08p
Value: £373.93

Johnson Matthey (JMAT)
Director name: MacLeod,Robert
Amount purchased: 12 @ 3,116.08p
Value: £373.93

Johnson Matthey (JMAT)
Director name: Farrant,Simon
Amount purchased: 12 @ 3,116.08p
Value: £373.93

Kingfisher (KGF)
Director name: Witts,Karen
Amount purchased: 46 @ 330.99p
Value: £152.25

Top Director Sells

Cropper (james) (CRPR)
Director name: Willink,Patrick
Amount sold: 5,489 @ $14.30
Value: $64,518.14