The wife of Admiral's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) bought a staggering amount of shares in the car insurance giant on Tuesday, worth nearly 1.6m pounds.

Diane Briere de l'Isle, the partner of CEO Henry Engelhardt, snapped up 144,348 shares in Admiral at average price of 1,107p - this cost her a total of £1,597,932.

Following this transaction, 'Henry Engelhardt and Family' holdings now total 37,957,913 ordinary shares in the insurer, equal to just under 14% of the entire issued share capital.

The purchase came just a few days after Admiral's first-half results, in which it reported a 7% rise in pre-tax profit to £171.8m and a 6% increase in group turnover to £1.17bn. However, the share price has been under pressure since the figures were released on August 30th, falling around 5%.

Speaking at the time of the results, Engelhardt said: "In the UK, following the very significant growth in 2010 and 2011, we continue to slow our rate of growth to a more modest level, which we believe is a sensible response to the increased competition in the market."

Credit Suisse downgraded its rating for the stock from 'outperform' to 'neutral' on Monday, saying that despite the solid headline result, "weaker-than-expected vehicle count growth, heightened pressure on industry pricing and larger-than-expected international losses have prompted us to lower earnings forecasts by 4-7% for FY12-14e."


Top Director Buys

Admiral Group (ADM)
Director name: Mr Henry Engelhardt
Amount purchased: 144,348 @ 1,107.00p
Value: £1,597,932

Bank of America Corp. (BAC)
Director name: Mr Sharon L Allen
Amount purchased: 14,153 @ $7.99
Value: $113,082

Bank of America Corp. (BAC)
Director name: Mr Jack O Bovender Jr
Amount purchased: 14,153 @ $7.99
Value: $113,082

Bank of America Corp. (BAC)
Director name: Mr R David Yost
Amount purchased: 14,153 @ $7.99
Value: $113,082

Bank of America Corp. (BAC)
Director name: Ms Linda P Hudson
Amount purchased: 14,153 @ $7.99
Value: $113,082

Innovation Group (TIG)
Director name: Mr David Thorpe
Amount purchased: 250,000 @ 20.15p
Value: £50,375

Compass Group (CPG)
Director name: Ms Susan Murray
Amount purchased: 3,000 @ 701.29p
Value: £21,039

Ladbrokes (LAD)
Director name: Mr Ian Bull
Amount purchased: 12,200 @ 170.45p
Value: £20,795

Top Level Domain Holdings Ltd. (DI) (TLDH)
Director name: Mr David de Jongh Weill
Amount purchased: 250,000 @ 5.00p
Value: £12,500


Top Director Sells

Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM)
Director name: Mr Dan C Cohen
Amount sold: 25,000 @ 752.00p
Value: £188,000

Related share prices
Compass Group (CPG) share price
Ladbrokes (LAD) share price
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) share price
Innovation Group (TIG) share price
Admiral Group (ADM) share price
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) share price
Top Level Domain Holdings Ltd. (DI) (TLDH) share price