Three Companies with Noteworthy Insider Buying Amid Weak Insider Trading Activity

New York Community Bancorp Inc. (NYSE:NYCB) also had one member of its Board of Directors purchase a relatively sizable block of shares last week. Non-Executive Chairman Dominick Ciampa snapped up 10,000 shares on Wednesday at $15.81 apiece, all of which are held indirectly through a trust fund. Following the recent transaction, the trust fund continues to own 23,182 shares. Mr. Ciampa also holds a direct ownership stake of 151,446 shares, as well as 311,504 shares held indirectly through a Foundation and 160,747 shares through his Individual Retirement Account (IRA). The Chairman has also been granted 55,000 shares under various stock awards, which will vest gradually in the upcoming years.

New York Community Bancorp is a multi-bank holding company with two main subsidiaries: New York Community Bank and New York Commercial Bank. The Community Bank operates 227 branches in Metro New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Florida, and Arizona, while the Commercial Bank operates 30 branches in Metro New York. At the end of October 2015, the multi-bank holding company inked a merger agreement with Astoria Financial Corp (NYSE:AF), under which Astoria will merge with and into New York Community Bank. Under the terms of the merger, Astoria shareholders will receive one share of NYCB common stock and $0.50 in cash for each share of Astoria. The shares of New York Community Bank plummeted on the announcement, as investors feared that the merger will result in dividend cuts given that the bank was set the $50 billion “systemically important financial institution” (SIFI) threshold. The SIFI compliance involves stricter capital requirements, liquidity requirements, capital stress test requirements, dividend limits, among other things. Therefore, it is highly likely that New York Community Bank will have to cut its dividend payment, considering its relatively high payout ratio. NYCB’s shares are down 7% in the past 12 months. However, investors should bear in mind that the company was on track to cross the SIFI threshold organically this year anyway, so the aforementioned merger is not necessarily bringing additional regulatory requirements that the company could have avoided. The company currently pays out an annualized dividend of $0.68 per share, which denotes a dividend yield of 4.36%. David Harding’s Winton Capital Management acquired a 2.26 million-share position in New York Community Bancorp Inc. (NYSE:NYCB) during the December quarter.