Bank Crisis: "NYCB Insiders Are Buying Up the Battered Stock" (NYCB)

Something we did not see with Silicon Valley Bank.*

From Barron's, February 9:

New York Community Bancorp executives and directors bought more than $860,000 of stock on the open market on Friday.

Insiders at New York Community Bancorp bought more than $870,000 of stock on Friday as shares of the regional lender rallied after their recent slump. Shares gained about 17% to $4.90 on Friday, but the stock is still down about 53% since Jan. 31.

Executive Chairman Alessandro DiNello paid $209,480 for 50,000 NYCB shares, an average price of $4.19 each. According to a form he filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, DiNello made the purchase through an individual retirement account that now owns 114,305 shares. He also owns 131,064 shares in a personal account, and another 2,422,140 shares through family trusts.

Most of the NYCB stock that DiNello owns were converted from shares of Flagstar Bancorp, which NYCB acquired Dec. 1, 2022. He was named executive chairman of NYCB on Feb. 7, moving from the role of nonexecutive chairman, and was tasked with working alongside President and CEO Thomas R. Cangemi to improve “all aspects of the Bank’s operations.” 

DiNello, the former head of Flagstar, told The Wall Street Journal “We’ll do whatever it takes,” to stabilize NYCB.

NYCB didn’t respond to a request to make DiNello or other insiders available for comment.

Director Peter Schoels paid $414,750 for 100,000 NYCB shares, an average price of $4.15 each. He now owns 147,438 NYCB shares in a personal account, and unvested stock awards for 11,220 NYCB shares. Schoels is a managing partner of investment advisor MP Global Advisers....

....MUCH MORE

*As noted during the bank runs and failures eleven months ago when the fears of contagion were both very real and overblown:

Charles Schwab Insiders Loaded Up on Shares (SCHW)
Insiders will sell for any number of reasons, they buy for only one.
(maybe two if they are trying to make a statement and buying stock is cheaper than hiring the PR peeps)

Since we posted that, SCHW is up 14% and the company has $8.52 trillion in assets under management. Insider buying doesn't give you a lock on identifying what the future holds but it is an indicator to be aware of.