Gary Torgow, a director at
Huntington Bancshares (HBAN), recently added 19,382 shares to his holdings. The buy increased his stake by 2.2 percent, and came to a total purchase price of just over $250,000.
This is the first insider buy since April, when two other directors and the company President and CEO picked up shares. Going back over the past 3 years, insiders have been fairly active… although sellers have largely exceeded buyers.
Overall, company insiders own about 0.9 percent of shares.
The bank stock is down about 5 percent in the past year. Huntington has recently missed on earnings, but revenue growth has been an impressive 56 percent. However, that may decline as rapidly rising interest rates may slow down lending activity.
Action to take: Shares are trading for about 1.2 times their book value. In the past year, they’ve been nearly as high as 1.9 times book. Patient investors should look for an opportunity to buy at or under book value. At current prices, the stock yields about 4.7 percent.
For traders, shares may be susceptible to another leg down with the stock market. The October $12 puts, last going for about $0.33, can deliver mid-double-digit gains or better on a drop in shares. Traders should look to profit from the first opportunity, given the current high market volatility.
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.