James Barker, a director at
Banc of California (BANC) recently added 10,000 shares. The buy increased his holdings by 6 percent, and came to a total cost of $131,590.
The director was the last buyer of shares with another 10,000 share pickup last September. A cluster of company insiders were buyers last May, following the selloff in the bank’s shares. There have been just two insider sales over the past year.
Overall, Banc of California insiders own 0.9 percent of shares.
The regional bank is down about 25 percent over the past year. Shares were caught up in last year’s banking crisis, and have only partially recovered, being up about 50 percent from their lows.
BANC now trades at a 20 percent discount to its book value, and shares trade for about 8 times forward earnings.
Action to take: Small banks are still a speculation right now. A further crisis could send shares into a tailspin again.
However, Banc of California could also benefit from interest rates peaking this year. Investors may want to allocate a small position to shares. At current prices, BANC also pays about a 3 percent dividend yield.
For traders, the July $15 calls, last going for about $1.35, could see mid-double-digit returns on a further trend higher for shares in the coming months.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any company mentioned in this article.