The regional-bank roller coaster continues to play out, and a number of top executives in the subsector bought up their banks’ shares, some for the first time in years.
In April, First Republic saw depositors whisk away cash faster than megabanks could deposit money. On May 1, the embattled bank was seized by regulators and sold to
JPMorgan Chase
(ticker: JPM), one of the banks that had tried to shore up First Republic. Another wave of volatility washed over smaller banks, and the regional-banking ETF is down 9% so far in the second quarter.
CEOs at
Ameris Bancorp
(ABCB),
Independent Bank Group
(IBTX),
Heartland Financial USA
(HTLF),
ServisFirst Bancshares
(SFBS), and
Synovus Financial
(SNV) recently stepped into the breach to buy shares.
Ameris stock dropped 22% in the first quarter, and has lost 13% so far in the second. CEO H. Palmer Proctor paid $292,510 on May 10 for 10,000 Ameris shares, according to a form he filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He now owns 288,735 shares in a personal account, another 198,137 shares through a trust, and 22,518 shares through a 401(k) account.
In response to a request for comment, Proctor said in a statement, “I have tremendous confidence in the future of the company and don’t think our current share price adequately reflects our franchise value.”
Proctor last purchased Ameris stock on the open market in July 2021 when he paid $116,773 for 2,500 shares, an average price of $46.71 each.
Atlanta-based Ameris, which has a $2 billion market capitalization, has more than 200 locations across the Southeast and mid-Atlantic.
Independent Bank of McKinney, Texas, has a market cap of $1.2 billion, and has more than 90 financial centers across Texas and Colorado. Chairman and CEO David R. Brooks founded the company in 1988.
Brooks paid $151,800 on May 4 for 5,000 Independent Bank shares, an average price of $30.36 each. He purchased the shares through a limited partnership that now owns 545,977 shares. Brooks also owns 65,132 shares in a personal account.
Independent Bank didn’t respond to a request to make Brooks available for comment. Brooks last purchased the bank’s stock on the open market in June 2014 when he paid $48,720 for 1,000 shares.
Independent Bank stock fell 23% in the first quarter, and so far in the second shares are down 26%.
Heartland Financial stock fell 18% in the first quarter, and so far in the second shares are down 25%.
President and CEO Bruce K. Lee paid $137,750 on May 9 for 5,000 Heartland Financial shares, an average price of $27.55 each, lifting his stake to 70,039 shares.
Heartland Financial didn’t make Lee available for comment, and the bank also declined to comment. Lee last bought Heartland Financial stock on the open market in August 2022 when he paid $91,800 for 2,000 shares.
Denver-based Heartland Financial owns several different brands that operate in the West, Southwest and Midwest. It has a market cap of $1.1 billion.
ServisFirst of Birmingham, Ala., has branches in the Southeast, and sports a market cap of $2.3 billion.
Chairman, President, and CEO Thomas Broughton paid $123,765 on May 4 for 2,775 ServisFirst shares, an average price of $44.60 each. He purchased the stock through a 401(k) plan that hadn’t previously owned any ServisFirst shares. Broughton also owns 259,691 shares in a personal account, which includes restricted stock, and another 497,812 shares through a trust for his children that he controls.
ServisFirst didn’t respond to a request to make Broughton available for comment on his stock purchase. Broughton last purchased ServisFirst stock on the open market on April 20, paying $150,000 for 3,000 shares, a per-share average price of $49.95 each.
ServisFirst stock dropped 21% in the first quarter, and so far in the second shares are down 16%.
Synovus stock fell 18% in the first quarter, and so far in the second shares are down 10%.
Chairman, President, and CEO Kevin S. Blair paid $120,980 on May 4 for 4,600 shares, an average price of $26.30 each. He now owns 86,939 shares.
Synovus didn’t respond to a request to make Blair available for comment. He last purchased Synovus stock on the open market in February 2022 when he paid $150,319 for 3,100 shares, an average price of $48.49 each.
Synovus, based in Columbus, Ga., has 245 branches in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Florida, and Tennessee. The bank has a market cap of $3.7 billion.
Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members—so-called insiders—as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.
Write to Ed Lin at [email protected] and follow @BarronsEdLin.
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