First Bancorp (FBNC) Registers Cluster of Insider Buying and Two Other Companies with Soft Insider Activity

Parent Company of the Bank of South Carolina Registers Mild Insider Buying

Bank of SC Corporation (NASDAQ:BKSC) recently registered one of the most voluminous insider purchases of 2016. Executive Vice President Douglas H. Sass bought 1,100 shares on Thursday at a cost of $9.47 per share, increasing his direct ownership stake to 7,097 shares. Mr. Sass also holds an indirect ownership stake of 15,776 shares, which is held via an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP).

The shares of the South Carolina-based financial institution holding company are down nearly 1% since the beginning of 2016. The Bank of South Carolina is a state-chartered commercial bank operating mainly in the Charleston, Dorchester and Berkeley counties of South Carolina. Bank of SC Corporation (NASDAQ:BKSC) focuses its lending activities on small and middle market businesses, professionals and individuals in the aforementioned geographic markets. The bank’s net loans at the end of the March quarter were $249.9 million, up $10.7 million quarter-over-quarter. Reportedly, a sustained improvement in economic conditions in the company’s primary markets contributed to the increase in loan demand.

Just recently, the bank’s boardroom approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.13 per share, which implies an annual dividend yield of 3.30%. Bank of SC shares are currently changing hands at a trailing PE ratio of 16.6, which is below the trailing P/E multiple of 24.2 for the S&P 500 Index. There were no hedge funds monitored by our team with stakes in Bank of SC Corporation (NASDAQ:BKSC) at the end of March.

Oil and Gas E&P Company Has Two Board Members Buy Some Shares

Energen Corporation (NYSE:EGN) saw two members of its boardroom buy some shares this past week. Director Magnus J. Gorrie snapped up 1,000 units of common stock on Friday for $47.26 each, boosting his ownership to 7,900 units. Alan A. Kleier, Board member since April 2015, purchased 500 shares two days earlier at $48.60 apiece. After the recent purchase, Mr. Kleier, who has almost four decades of experience in the oil and gas industry, currently owns a mere 1,000 Energen shares.

The oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the Permian Basin in west Texas and the San Juan Basin in New Mexico has seen its market value gain 13% since the start of 2016. Energen Corporation (NYSE:EGN) derived 83% of its first-quarter revenue from oil, while the remainder from natural gas and natural gas liquids. The aforementioned insider buying comes after the company announced deals to sell non-core assets in the Delaware and San Juan Basins, which would yield total gross proceeds of $551.7 million. Meanwhile, analysts at Barclays increased their price target on Energen to $52 from $50 after the oil and gas E&P company sold non-core assets generating proceeds above the investment bank’s forecast of $400 million. “Considering the company’s balance sheet strength and its streamlined asset base, we think EGN is well positioned to add scale and efficiency through consolidation in the Permian Basin”, said Barclays analysts. Those asset sales are anticipated to close by mid-August.

The oil and gas E&P firm received some love from the asset managers followed by Insider Monkey during the first three months of 2016, as the number of managers with stakes in the company jumped to 29 from 18 quarter-on-quarter. Those 29 money managers amassed nearly 15% of the company’s total number of outstanding shares. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Advisors LLC owns 1.35 million shares of Energen Corporation (NYSE:EGN) as of March 31.

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