Cluster of Insider Selling at High-Yield REIT and Other Noteworthy Insider Trading

Board Member of Alabama Banking Firm Buys Shares Despite Massive Stock Price Appreciation

A member of ServisFirst Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ:SFBS)’s Board of Directors has been hungrily piling up shares over the past several days. Michael D. Fuller, who has served as a director of ServisFirst Bancshares since 2007, purchased 11,000 shares on Friday, 1,550 shares on Thursday, 9,590 shares on Wednesday and 5,000 shares on Tuesday at prices ranging from $41.80 to $42.06 per share. Following this series of transactions, Mr. Fuller currently owns 401,466 shares.

The bank holding company of Alabama banking corporation ServisFirst Bank has seen its market capitalization rise by a staggering 131% in the past year, so the series of transactions discussed above come as a surprise. The insider purchases come several weeks after ServisFirst Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ:SFBS) reported a year of record growth in net income, loans and deposits. Although in the middle of December the bank’s management thought the fourth quarter was going to be the worst quarter for loan growth ever, the firm ended up having a record month. The bank booked $220 million of loans in the month of December, booked mostly in the last two weeks of the month. ServisFirst had $280 million in loan growth for the quarter. The number of hedge funds from our system invested in the bank holding company rose to ten from six during the December quarter. Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management had around 117,000 shares of ServisFirst Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ:SFBS) in its portfolio at year-end.

Director at Independent Exploration and Production Company Purchases Shares

Oasis Petroleum Inc. (NYSE:OAS)’s shareholders had not seen any corporate insiders buy shares since early March 2015 until last week. Board member John E. Hagale snapped up 15,000 shares on Friday at prices that fell between $13.99 and $14.08 per share, a purchase that boosted his ownership to 44,100 shares.

The shares of the independent exploration and production company are up 166% in the past 12 months, with the purchase mentioned above serving a very positive indicator unless the director purchased the shares to meet the company’s stock ownership guidelines. Oasis Petroleum Inc. (NYSE:OAS), which focuses on the acquisition and development of unconventional oil and natural gas reserves in the North Dakota and Montana regions of the Williston Basin, recorded net cash provided by operating activities of $104.6 million for the fourth quarter, up from a mere $32.0 million generated during the September quarter. The massive jump reflects the company’s efforts in driving down well costs and operating expenses. Oasis Petroleum plans to bring on two additional rigs in the middle of the year and an additional one in early 2018. John Griffin’s Blue Ridge Capital upped its position in Oasis Petroleum Inc. (NYSE:OAS) by 51% during the December quarter to 6.87 million shares.

The final page of this article discusses fresh insider selling observed at two other companies.