Jerry Shore (Insider Trades), CEO of Fred’s Inc. (FRED), bought 1,000 shares of the company on Aug. 31. The average price per share was $12.94, for a total transaction of $12,940. Fred’s Inc. operates 662 discount general merchandise stores and three pharmacy-only locations in the southeastern U.S. The company’s market cap is $479.37 million and P/S ratio is 0.23.
The number and volume of insider buys of the company increased from 2012 to 2014. There were no insider buys in 2012, but five buys totaling 1,085 shares and 15 transactions of 3,398 shares in 2013 and 2014, respectively. There have also been nine insider buys totaling 7,402 shares from January to August 2015 alone. The number of insider sells decreased, but the volume of insider sells increased during the same time period. There were 14 insider sells totaling 17,817 shares in 2012, and 11 insider sells totaling 33,552 shares in 2014. 
Shore made one other transaction with the company on Aug. 28, buying 1,000 shares for an average price of $13.03 per share. Fred’s president, Michael Bloom (Insider Trades), also bought 2,000 shares of the company for an average price of $13.10 on Aug. 31. This was Bloom’s only trade with FRED. For more information about insider transactions with FRED’s Inc., click here.
Fred’s Inc. reported a net loss of $4.877 million, or $0.13 per share for the fiscal 2015 second quarter ended on Aug. 1. Net income increased from a net loss of $16.434 million, or $0.45 per share in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Net sales for the fiscal 2015 second quarter was $546.083 million, increased compared to $491.185 million in the second quarter of 2014. Annual revenue for FRED increased 1.68% since 2010. 
The company declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.06 per share payable on Sept. 15 to shareholders of record as of Sept. 1. Annual dividends per share increased 10.44% since 2010. Fred’s Inc added a net two Xpress pharmacy locations during the first half of fiscal 2015 and also acquired two specialty pharmacy-only locations during the same period of time. Shore commented that the “developing headwinds in the pharmacy industry…adversely affected the company’s retail pharmacy department, and by extension, [the company’s] second quarter results.” According to GuruFocus.com information, the company has a business predictability rank of 1 out of 5 stars. For more information about business predictability rank, click here.
One guru sold out, and another newly acquired stake in FRED during the second quarter of 2015. Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio) (Trades, Portfolio) of Royce & Associates LLC, sold 2,500 shares of FRED for an average per share price of $17.80. Previously, Royce reduced his holding by 82.76% in the first quarter of 2014 by selling 12,000 shares of FRED for an average price of $18.46 per share. The total estimated gain of the holding was 16% since the third quarter of 2012. At that time, Royce purchased 2,500 shares of the company for $14.53 per share. Additionally, NWQ Managers (Trades, Portfolio) (Trades, Portfolio) newly acquired 727,509 shares of FRED for an average per share price of $17.80. For more information about guru transactions with FRED, click here.
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