Dimon not the only bank exec buying back stock
Jamie Dimon's announcement last night that he was purchasing 500,000 shares (roughly $25 million) of JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) is another sign that some executives see their shares as undervalued, and who could blame them? JPMorgan's stock is down 20 percent for the year.
Dimon already owns 6.2 million shares, but he has not been a big purchaser of stock, buying only twice in the last 12 years, once in January 2009 when he bought 500,000 shares, and again in July 2012 when he also bought 500,000 shares.
He's not the only one. Several bank insiders have bought stock in the past couple weeks.
Banks: Recent insider buying (source: InsiderScore)
Citigroup (NYSE: C): CEO and chairman
Zions (NASDAQ: ZION): CEO and CFO
Huntington Banc (NASDAQ: HBAN): CEO, CFO, and two others
KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY): CEO and eight directors
Radian Group (NYSE: RDN): CEO, CFO, and five others
These purchases have been significant. In the case of Citigroup, the CEO and Chairman bought $1 million each. Four insiders at Huntington Bancshares recently bought $1.3 million. Radian's CEO not only bought shares, but the bank initiated the first company buyback plan.
Not only are bank stock prices down 20 percent on average, but most of the big banks are trading at a substantial discount to tangible book value.
Banks: Tangible book value
Fifth Third (NASDAQ: FITB): 0.92
SunTrust (NYSE: STI): 0.99
Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS): 0.87
Regions Financial (NYSE: RF): 0.84
Comerica (NYSE: CMA): 0.79
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS): 0.72
Bank of America (NYSE: BAC): 0.72
Zions: 0.72
Citigroup: 0.58
JPMorgan is one of the few that trades above book value, at 1.1. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) is another, at 1.62. But they are the exceptions.
With bank stocks down this much this year and most of the major banks trading at big discounts to book, look for more announcements of insider buying and buybacks.
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