Group Insider Buying Reported in California Banking Company

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Apr 28, 2014
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Over the past week there was a notable insider cluster buy reported by the directors and corporate executives at Pacific Premier Bancorp (PPBI). A cluster buy is defined as an insider buy where more than two insiders of a company make buys on the same day or around the same time as each other. Pacific Premier Bancorp reported eight different insiders making buys of the company’s stock on April 25, 2014.

The following eight buys were made as the company’s price recently dropped from a 10-year high which was set in March 2014.

  • Director Jeff Jones purchased 3,000 at $14.16 per share for a transaction amount of $42,480. Since his buy the price per share has dropped -1.69%. The director holds on to 79,402 shares.
  • President and CEO Steven Gardner added 10,000 shares at $14.23 per share for a transaction total of $142,300. The price has dropped -2.18% since then. The CEO now holds on to at least 149,410 shares of company stock.
  • EVP and CFO Kent Smith purchased 1,700 shares at $14.26 per share for a transaction amount of $24,242. Since his buy, the price per share has dropped -2.38%. Smith holds 10,930 shares.
  • Senior VP and CBO Ed Wilcox added 900 shares at $14.23 per share for a total transaction amount of $12,807. The price has since dropped -2.18%. Wilcox holds 33,137 shares of PPBI.
  • EVP and CCO Michael Karr added 2,000 shares at $14.35 per share for a transaction total of $28,700. Since then the price has dropped -3%. Karr holds on to 12,711 shares of PPBI.
  • EVP and COO Tom Rice purchased 1,500 shares at $14.20 per share for a total transaction amount of $21,300. Since then the price per share has dropped -1.97%. Rice now holds on to 6,576 shares of his company’s stock.
  • Director Kenneth Boudreau added 1,000 shares at $14.31 per share for a total transaction amount of $14,310. Since then the price per share has dropped -2.73%. Boudreau now holds on to 28,367 shares of company stock.
  • Director Joseph Garrett purchased 3,620 shares at $14.25 per share for a total amount of $51,585. The price has since then dropped -2.32%. Garrett holds on to 44,625 shares of PPBI.

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As you can see in the chart above, this is the largest cluster of group buying seen in Pacific Premier Bancorp.

Pacific Premier Bancorp is a California-based bank holding company for Pacific Premier Bank. The company offers deposit products and services for both business and consumer customers, including checking, money market and savings accounts, cash management services, electronic banking and on-line bill payment.

Pacific Premier Bancorp’s historical revenue and net income:

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The analysis on Pacific Premier Bancorp reports that the company’s revenue has been in decline over the past year, its asset growth has been faster than its revenue growth over the past five years, and over the past three years PPBI has issued $118.7 million of debt.

Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) was the only guru that held a position in PPBI. As of the close of 2013, Simons held 241,058 shares of Pacific Premier, representing 1.45% of the company’s shares outstanding.

The company released its first quarter 2014 results last week which reported:

  • Acquired and fully integrated a specialty lender Infinity Franchise Holdings.
  • Net income of $2.6 million, or $0.15 per share.
  • Non-interest deposits increased 13%.
  • Nonperforming assets ratio dropped to 0.20%.
  • Return on average assets was 0.64%, compared with 1.05% from last quarter.
  • Total loans increased 7%.

The Peter Lynch Chart suggests that the company is currently overvalued:

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Pacific Premier Bancorp has a market cap of $240.9 million. Its shares are currently trading at around $13.99 with a P/E ratio of 26.50, a P/S ratio of 3.50 and a P/B ratio of 1.30. The company had an annual average earnings growth of 0.90% over the past ten years.

You can view more information on Pacific Premier Bancorp here.

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