William Rhodes, a director at Regions Financial (RF), just picked up 50,000 shares. The buy increased his holdings by over 1,000%, and came to a total cost of $968,500.
This marks the first insider buy since last May, when another director bought 11,926 shares at a cost of $200,134. In the past year, there have been two insider sales from company executives, with the largest sale coming to a cost of just under $500,000.
Overall, Regions insiders own 0.3% of shares.
The regional bank is up about 10% over the past year, lagging the overall market, but performing much better than many regional and small banks, which have had concerns over their loan quality as interest rates have soared.
Operationally, Regions has held up well, with earnings up 23% and revenues rose by 16%. The bank also sports a 27% profit margin.
These metrics make the bank a possible acquisition target by an even larger bank.
Action to take: Investors may like shares here. They’re trending higher, and are still inexpensive at 10 times forward earnings. Plus, Regions pays a hefty 4.9% dividend at current prices.
For traders, the current uptrend in shares is likely to continue. The July $20 calls, last trading for about $0.80, could see mid-double-digit returns or better 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.