Insider Buys at 52-Week Lows

Several insiders made buys this week as the price of their companies hit or neared 52-week low prices. The following insider buys were chosen as the insider buys at 52-week lows with the highest total transaction amounts.

TrustCo Bank Corp NY (TRST)

On April 29, two insiders of TrustCo Bank Corp NY made buys into the company. The two directors bought over 100,000 shares of TrustCo stock.

Director Joseph Lucarelli made the largest buy, adding a total of 100,000 shares at $5.35 per share. This cost Lucarelli $535,000. He now holds on to 319,225 shares of the company’s stock.

Director Thomas Maggs also made a buy of 1,650 shares on April 29. These shares traded at $5.28 per share. This cost the director a total of $8,712. He now holds on to 67,227 shares of TrustCo.



TrustCo Bank Corp NY is a savings and loan holding company for its wholly owned subsidiary, TrustCo Bank. TrustCo Bank is a federal savings bank engaged in providing general banking services to individuals, partnerships, and corporations. The bank operates out of 137 offices in the New York area.

What’s good about TrustCo?

• The P/B ratio is close to a 1-year low.
• The equity to asset ratio is at 8.2%.
• The price is close to a 52-week low.

Possible concerns with TrustCo:

• The operating margin has been in a 5-year decline. The average rate of decline is -6% per year.
• The company has issued $52.118 million of debt in the past three years.
• The company’s P/B ratio is 1.4.

Three gurus have shown a lot of faith in TrustCo Bank Corp. Chuck Royce holds the most shares of TrustCo, owning 6,101,833 shares of the company. Columbia Wanger comes in second holding 4,007,400 shares and Paul Tudor Jones owns 77,300 shares.

ConnectOne Bancorp (CNOB)

Relatively new to the public trading market, ConnectOne Bancorp reported an insider buy as the company’s price dropped back down to its IPO price.

Chairman and CEO Frank Sorrentino, III bought 3,660 shares at $29.27 per share. This cost him a total of $107,128. Since this buy, the price has increased 0.51%. He now holds on to 137,601 shares of ConnectOne.



On Feb. 12, 2013, the company became a publicly traded bank holding company. Through the IPO, they issued 1.8 million shares at a price of $28 per share, rasing net proceeds of $47.8 million. It was the first successful IPO of a US commercial bank since 2011.

Frank Sorrentino III stated, “We are extremely pleased with our solid operating performance this quarter, our first as a public company. Our track record of sustained organic growth established since we opened our doors for business in 2005 has continued at an impressive pace.”

The bank is a full service commercial bank that was initially founded in 2005 as North Jersey Community Bancorp. The company offers commercial and consumer banking services to clients in the New Jersey area.

What’s good about ConnectOne?

• They have total assets of over $1 billion.
• The total nonperforming assets decreased by 5.3%, and they now make up 0.79% of the total assets.
• The company was selected by SNL Financial as the 12^th best performing community bank (out of more than 750 commercial banks)

Possible concerns with ConnectOne:

• The company’s P/B ratio is at 2.
• The company’s price has already dropped back down to the IPO price.

There are currently no gurus that hold stake in the bank.

With shares down 0.75%, ConnectOne trades at $29.06.

Edwards Lifesciences (EW)

Edwards Lifesciences also reported insider transactions this week; their transaction amount was the second highest price. The company is also the one in the top three that is not in the banking and finance industry.

Two directors made buys back into the company this week. On April 26, Director Wesley Von Schack bought 2,000 shares at $64.95. This cost the director $129,900 and since his buy the price has decreased 0.87%.

On May 1, Director E. David Pyott bought 3,000 shares at $62.95 per share. This cost him a total of $188,850. Since his buy the price per share has increased 0.87%.



As the price has been falling we have seen an increase in the number of insider buys coming from Edwards

What’s good about Edwards Lifesciences?

• The company has enough interest to cover all of its debt.
• The company has shown predictable revenue and earnings growth
• The P/B and P/S ratios are close to 3-year lows of 4.79 and 3.81 respectively.
• The price is close to a 2-year low of $62.50.

Possible problems with Edwards:

• The company has issued $95.5 million of debt in the past three years.
• The company has a bad stock buyback track record. The stock is now traded at -29% below its average buyback price.
• The company has a pretty high P/B ratio of 4.8.

Edwards Lifesciences is a medical supply company that provides products and technologies that are designed to treat advanced cardiovascular diseases. The company is focused specifically on technologies that treat structural heart disease and critically ill patients such as heart valves and hemodynamic monitoring.



The company’s revenue per share has grown 9.4% in the past ten years and 12.8% in the past year.

There are seven gurus with stake in Edwards Lifesciences. To view these gurus and the shares they hold, click here.

With its shares down 1.53%, Edwards Lifesciences closed at $63.21.

To view the complete list of insider buys at 52-week lows, click here.

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