Market Tumult Hasn’t Stopped These Insiders From Buying Shares

Let’s move on to Allegiance Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ:ABTX), the holding company of Allegiance Bank that recently joined the family of publicly-traded businesses. The newly-public company saw five different insiders acquire stock last Thursday through an initial public offering of 2.6 million shares of common stock at a price of $21.00. Even though many believe that the insider trading activity in connection with companies’ IPO’s is not worthwhile or informative, we will still take a look at the most notable purchases (which definitely point to insiders’ confidence in the future of the company as a public entity). President Steven F. Retzloff acquired 8,000 shares at the IPO price and enlarged his holding to 21,500 shares. Similarly, Director Paul Michael Mann acquired 4,500 shares last Thursday, boosting his stake to 45,673 shares. At the same time, Laurence L. Lehman III, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, purchased 2,000 shares, doubling his stake to 4,000 shares. The shares of Allegiance Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ:ABTX) have gained more than 6% since its IPO last week, which is a clear sign that the market believes in the potential of the bank.

Last but not least, we will investigate the insider trading activity at National Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:NHLD). Glenn C. Worman, Executive Vice President of Finance since May 2015, acquired 7,900 shares at prices ranging from $2.36-to-$2.40, increasing his holdings to 10,000 shares. At the same time, Robert B. Fagenson, who has been acting as Chief Executive Officer of National Holdings since December 2014, bought 2,000 shares at prices of $2.41 and $2.42 per share. Following the recent transactions, the executive holds exactly 12,000 shares. The shares of the independent brokerage, investment banking and asset management firm have lost almost 49% since the beginning of the year. Even more to that, the stock has lost 28% over the past month or so, although there has not been any major news that could have caused investors to lose confidence in the company, which might actually explain the executives’ decisions to acquire shares. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management acquired a new stake of nearly 32,000 shares in National Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:NHLD) during the second quarter.

Disclosure: None