3 Companies’ Insiders Who Aren’t Afraid Of A Bear Market

Moving on to the insider buying activity at MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. (NASDAQ:MOFG), Director Larry D. Albert purchased a 7,250-share stake on Tuesday at a price of $29 per share. Executive Vice President Kurt R. Weise reported the acquisition of 31,250 shares on Wednesday for $29 each as well, 16,250 of which were actually purchased by his spouse. The Executive currently owns 16,800 shares. The company, which provides financial services primarily in the upper Midwest through its two bank subsidiaries, has had its shares advance by 11% since the beginning of the year. Even more to that, the stock is trading 10% above the insiders’ aforementioned acquisition price. MidWestOne’s financial performance mainly depends on its net interest income, which represents the difference between the interest income on earning assets and the interest expense paid on deposits and borrowings. In fact, an immediate and sustained 200 basis point increase in interest rates would result in an increase in the company’s net interest income of roughly $3.6 million, which accounts for almost 14% of the company’s net interest income for the third quarter. It is also worth pointing out that the stock is currently trading at a very attractive trailing price-to-earnings ratio of 14.95, which is significantly below the mean of 23.12 for the companies included in the S&P 500. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies was one of the two hedge funds within our database invested in MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. (NASDAQ:MOFG) at the end of the third quarter, holding 97,600 shares.

WellCare Health Plans Inc. (NYSE:WCG) is another company that has seen insider activity on the buy side lately. Andrew L. Asher, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since November 2014, reported the purchase of 4,000 shares on Monday at a weighted average price of $80.71, all of which are held by a trust fund. The CFO also holds a direct ownership stake of 3,676 shares. The shares of the provider of managed care services for government-sponsored healthcare coverage are up by nearly 1% year-to-date and are trading at a rich trailing P/E ratio of 32.25. However, analysts anticipate strong earnings growth over the next several years, so this valuation metric is not entirely representative of the company’s true potential. The company’s membership figures declined by 6% year-over-year during the third quarter, but WellCare’s membership growth is anticipated to speed up next year. On October 9, the company signed a contract with the Iowa Department of Human Services to serve Iowa’s Medicaid Managed Care Program and WellCare is already being assigned members during the current quarter, while the contractual services are set to begin on January 1. 32 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey had positions in the company at the end of the September quarter, amassing 19.10% of its outstanding common stock. Jeremy Green’s Redmile Group owns 514,273 shares of WellCare Health Plans Inc. (NYSE:WCG) as of the end of the September quarter.

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