ZION

Insider Buying Week 5-12-23 Prelude to Something but What?

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Insiders are coming out in force to buy regional and community banks.  Normally significant insider buys are met with a predictable market response, a positive bounce between 3%-5%. This is not happening.  There is no urgency, as the stocks, for the most part, are lower than when the “informed investor” purchased the shares.  I like to believe that no one knows more about the business than the people running it, but banks may be a glaring exception to my dogma.  First of all, banks’ balance sheets are complicated and notoriously obtuse.   2008 should serve as an indelible reminder of that. … Read more

Insider Buying Week 5-5-23 Banking Blood Bath is it time to Buy?

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Insiders came out to play last week. It was not pretty, but insiders are bottom fishers, as a rule. They buy in force when prices are down when they perceive a bottom.  Regional bank insiders were all over the field scooping up prices that haven’t been seen since the Pandemic lows. Unfortunately, most of it was in regional bank stocks. Bank stocks are notoriously difficult to understand. First of all, they are highly leveraged, between 5-10% Tier 1 capital ratios which is the ratio of a bank’s core tier 1 capital—its equity capital and disclosed reserves—to its total risk-weighted assets.  Usually, that … Read more

Insider Buying Picks Up- Week Ending 5-15-20

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Insider buying picked up this week across several depressed sectors like insurance,  small regional banks,  gaming, furniture, REITS, building products, restaurants and retailers, automotive and motorcycle and utility stocks. The buy of the week is property and casualty California auto insurer, Mercury General MCY.  Chairman of the Board George Joseph continued accumulating stock with $15 million of stock purchases at an average price of $35.95. MCY is down from it’s high this year of $52.  MCY yields 6.65%. People are driving less and insurance claim losses are down  as a result of that. Offsetting this, reinvestment rates on bond portfolios … Read more