SECURITIES

Trash Hauler Stock Sales Probed: The SEC is investigating stock sales made by two executives of Browning-Ferris Industries Inc. weeks before a disappointing earnings report. In mid-August, the Houston-based trash hauler’s chief financial officer, R. John Stanton Jr., and its general counsel, Howard S. Hoover Jr., sold half their BFI shares for about $27 a share. On Sept. 3, the company announced that its third-quarter and fourth-quarter earnings would be less than predicted, and the stock fell to $21.75. The two men would have received $430,350 less for their 75,000 shares had they sold after Sept. 3.