John Michel, CFO at HomeStreet Inc (HMST), recently added 3,000 shares. The buy increased his holdings by just over 5 percent, and came to a total cost of $119,400.
He was joined by the company’s CIO, who picked up 1,000 shares for just over $39,000 on the same day. And in the prior week, a company director acquired 27,000 shares. Insiders have largely been notable buyers of shares going back over the past three years, with only a handful of sales.
Overall, insiders at the company own 3.8 percent of shares.
Shares of the regional bank are down about 10 percent over the past year. That’s relatively small compared to a 33 percent decline in earnings and 15 percent drop in revenue. But the bank is fairly profitable with a 15 percent margin and trades for just under 10 times forward earnings.
Action to take: The bank could be in for a little more downside with markets in the weeks ahead. If so, investors might want to try and buy the bank a little closer to its book value, given its current premium of 1.2 times price to book. Shares yield 3.6 percent here, and the company has a history of dividend growth.
For traders, the August $50 calls, last going for about $1.85, could deliver mid-to-high double-digit gains in the months ahead.
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 of the companies mentioned in this article.