Charles Reeves, CEO at MidWestOne Financial (MOFG), recently bought 24,858 shares. The buy increased his holdings by nearly 350 percent, and came to a total cost just under $857,000.
This marks the first insider buy at the company since March, when a director picked up 350 shares, paying just under $11,000 to do so. Other company executives have been buyers in the past two years. The last insider sale was over two years ago.
Overall, company insiders own 8.2 percent of shares of the Iowa-based bank.
The stock has performed well this year, with a 12 percent rally in shares against a double-digit decline in the S&P 500.
The bank trades for under 9 times earnings, which grew at 12 percent in the last year, even amid rapidly-rising interest rates. Plus, the bank sports an attractive 29 percent profit margin.
Action to take: Shares are relatively attractive here, although they trade at a slight premium to book value, a conservative measure for valuing a bank stock’s price.
With the company’s solid earnings and 2.8 percent dividend, however, long-term investors may see great returns. It’s possible that in less volatile markets the bank becomes a buyout candidate for a larger firm looking to expand.
Traders will need to look elsewhere, as the company does not trade options at this time.
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.