Noteworthy Insider Purchases Uncovered at Progressive Corp (PGR), Green Bancorp Inc. (GNBC), and United Technologies Corporation (UTX)

Green Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:GNBC) has seen four top executives purchase shares so far this week. To begin with, Executive Vice President and Corporate Chief Credit Officer Donald S. Perschbacher snapped up 10,000 shares on Tuesday at prices that ranged from $6.94 to $6.95 per share, lifting his overall holding to 51,500 shares. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Manuel J. Mehos bought 32,600 shares on the same day at $6.91 apiece and currently holds an ownership stake of 362,600 shares. Furthermore, 14,465 shares were purchased by President Geoffrey D. Greenwade, who currently owns 49,606 shares. The 14,465-share block was acquired at a weighted average price of $6.92. Last but not least, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Executive Vice President John P. Durie bought 3,000 units of common stock on Tuesday for $6.95 each, enlarging his stake to 57,076 shares.

The Texas-focused bank holding company offers commercial and private banking services through nationally chartered commercial bank Green Bank. The shares of the company have lost more than 50% since the beginning of December, turning the company’s stock into an extremely attractive investment opportunity. The stock trades at a forward P/E ratio of 6.21, which is substantially below both the ratio of 12.1 for the financial sector and 15.89 for the S&P 500 Index. Green Bancorp’s full-year 2015 earnings per share totaled $0.53 (excluding one-time acquisition expenses the total stood at $0.67), compared to EPS of $0.64 reported for 2014. The company’s deposits for 2015 increased by 68% year-over-year to $3.1 billion, while loans increased by 74% to $3.1 billion ($250 million due to organic growth). A mere seven hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey had stakes in the company at the end of the third quarter. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies LLC held a stake of 107,700 shares in Green Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:GNBC) at the end of September.