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Numerous Insiders at Commercial Bank Buy Shares Via Public Offering

More than ten insiders at Howard Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:HBMD) purchased shares last week through a public offering, so let’s have a brief look at some individual purchases. Board member Robert J. Hartson bought 10,000 shares on Thursday for $15.00 each, lifting his stake to 163,768 shares. Richard G. Arnold, a director of Howard Bancorp since 2005, added 16,000 shares to his holding, which currently comprises 124,173 shares. President and CEO Mary Ann Scully snapped up 2,000 shares on Thursday. Ms. Scully owns an aggregate of 129,020 shares after the purchase.

The parent company of Howard Bank, a Maryland-chartered trust company operating as a commercial bank, raised gross proceeds of $41.4 million from the offering, which were said to be used for general corporate purposes. Specifically, Howard Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:HBMD) plans to use the money to support its lending and investing activities, repay debt, as well as fund acquisitions of other institutions or branches if such opportunities become available. Howard Bank operates a commercial banking business via 13 branches located throughout the Greater Baltimore Metropolitan Area. The shares of Howard Bancorp are up 44% in the past year. Emanuel J. Friedman’s EJF Capital LLC owned around 680,000 shares of Howard Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:HBMD) at the end of September.

Multiple Insiders at Low-Priced Biopharmaceutical Company Purchase Shares

Seven corporate insiders at Sorrento Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:SRNE) piled up shares this past week, so this paragraph briefly discusses some of the most voluminous purchases. To start with, President and CEO Henry Ji purchased 20,000 shares on Friday at a price tag of $5.15 each, boosting his direct ownership stake to 37,776 shares. The co-founder of Sorrento Therapeutics also holds an indirect ownership stake of 2.05 million shares held in a family trust. Board member Jaisim Shah bought 10,000 shares on the same day at $5.15 apiece. Mr. Shah currently owns a total of 102,631 shares after the recent purchase. Jerome B. Zeldis, Chief Medical Officer and President of Clinical Development, acquired a new stake of 10,000 shares for $5.15 each.

The shares of the biopharmaceutical company are up a little less than 1% in the past year. Sorrento Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:SRNE)’s main therapeutic focus is oncology, including the treatment of chronic cancer pain, though the company develops products for immunology and infectious diseases as well. The company’s revenues for the three months that ended September were $2.24 million, up from $1.10 million recorded a year ago. The increase mainly reflected license fees from a license agreement, partially offset by a decrease in activities under the company’s active grants. Leonard A. Potter’s Wildcat Capital Management was the equity holder of 2.80 million shares of Sorrento Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:SRNE) on September 30.

The final page of this insider trading article discusses fresh insider selling at two well-known giants.