Three Small-Cap Financial Stocks That Insiders Have Bought Recently

Academic studies have shown that stocks bought by insiders outperformed the market by an average of 7 percentage points a year. Thus, in this article, I will analyze three companies within the financial sector that saw their insiders buy their stock over the past few days.

The largest company in this list is State Auto Financial (NASDAQ:STFC), a $936.9 million market cap property and casualty insurance holding company, which is engaged in writing both personal and business lines of insurance. Between June 2 and June 5, State Automobile Mutual Insurance Co, Large Shareholder (more than 10%), acquired 20,017 shares of Common Stock for prices ranging from $20.94 per share to $21.84 per share. After spending $427,485 in stock, the insider owns more than 25.45 million shares, worth over $583 million.

State Auto Financial

In addition, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates last declared having upped its stake in the company by 4%, and now owns 535,064 shares.

The second-runner-up is Independent Bank Group Inc (NASDAQ:IBTX), an $846.3 million market cap Texas-registered bank holding company that saw 10 of its insiders purchase its stock on June 5 for prices ranging from $48.72 per share to $50.40 per share, spending a total of $ 611,747.86. Amongst them I would like to highlight Torry Berntsen (President and COO), who acquired 2,500 shares and now owns 65,829 shares. Moreover, the company’s CEO, David Brooks, bought 1,000 shares and currently holds more than 1 million shares of Independent Bank Group.

On top of the insider bullishness, several hedge funds seem confident on this company’s future. For instance, Neil Chriss’ Hutchin Hill Capital last disclosed ownership of 95,100 shares, up 24% in relation to the previous quarter. Chuck Royce is also amongst the firm’s largest hedge fund investors, with 169,500 shares.

Western Asset Mortgage Capital Corp (NYSE:WMC) is a $615 million market cap residential real estate finance company that invests in residential mortgage assets in the United States. The Company is primarily focused on investing in, financing and managing Agency RMBS. On June 6, Anup Agarwal, Chief Investment Officer, started a position in the company’s stock. He acquired 11,000 shares of Common Stock for prices ranging from $14.43 per share to $14.47 per share, inclusive, and spent a total of almost $160,000.

Another prominent investor that lately started a position in Western Asset Mortgage Capital Corp is Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, which acquired 148,964 shares over Q1. Furthermore, Daniel S. Och’s Oz Management recently increased its exposure to the company by 10% and now holds 377,492 shares, worth roughly $5.9 million.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no position in any stocks mentioned