Nymox Pharmaceutical Corporation (NYMX) and 2 Banks Witness Notable Insider Buying

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is on track to reach a new all-time high after registering the worst five-day start to a year in its history. The Dow has advanced by approximately 14% from the low reached in February of this year, but the failure of OPEC members to reach an agreement to freeze output on Sunday may prevent the Dow from reaching its all-time high in the near future. Meanwhile, last week’s dollar volume of insider buying remained at an extremely low level, mainly owing to the ongoing first quarter earnings season. Officers and directors usually buy their companies’ shares for one simple reason, which is that they believe those shares are significantly undervalued and are poised to appreciate over time. Insider Monkey processed the few Form 4 filings disclosing insider buying on Friday and identified three companies with noteworthy insider buying activity.

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Four Insiders of This Bank Participated in a Private Placement of 2.00 Million Shares

Let’s begin our discussion with Severn Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:SVBI), which registered a cluster of insider buying last week involving four different corporate insiders. To start with, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer James M. Anthony bought a new stake of 65,000 shares on Friday at $5.50 apiece. Moreover, Director Raymond S. Crosby purchased 36,000 units of common stock on the same day for $5.50 each, boosting his ownership to 46,050 units. Konrad M. Wayson, another member of the company’s Board of Directors, snapped up 20,000 shares on Friday at a price of $5.50 per share, which lifted his holding to 50,025 shares. Last but not least, an additional 20,000 shares were purchased by Board member John A. Lamon, who currently holds an ownership stake of 71,250 shares. These corporate insiders bought the aforementioned shares through a private placement of approximately 2.00 million shares that generated gross proceeds of roughly $11 million, before expenses. Severn Bancorp will use the proceeds to pay all unpaid interest and dividends on its Series B preferred stock, which was issued and sold to the U.S. Department of the Treasury in 2008, as well as partly redeem its Series B preferred stock. Severn Bancorp has not paid dividends on the Series B preferred stock since the first quarter of 2012, because the Federal Reserve has not granted approval for it to pay such dividends.

Severn Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:SVBI) operates as a savings and loan holding company that conducts its business operations mainly through two subsidiaries: Severn Savings Bank, FSB; and SBI Mortgage Company. The company’s 2015 net income reached $4.54 million, which was up by 55.9% year-over-year. The increase in net income was mainly driven by higher non-interest income and lower provisions for loan losses, which was partly offset by lower net interest income. Net interest income, which represents interest earned net of interest charges, declined by 4.4% to $22.16 million for 2015, which reflects a decrease in Severn Bancorp’s loan portfolio and higher interest expenses on deposits and borrowings. Meanwhile, total non-interest income grew by 41.3% year-over-year to $6.11 million, primarily due to higher revenue from mortgage banking activities and real estate commissions. Shares of Severn Bancorp have advanced by 17% in the past 12 months. None of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey owned shares of Severn Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:SVBI) at the end of 2015.

The next two pages of this insider trading article discuss the insider purchases observed at Bank Of The Ozarks Inc. (NASDAQ:OZRK) and Nymox Pharmaceutical Corporation (NASDAQ:NYMX).

This Regional Bank Witnesses Two Board Members Buy Shares

Bank Of The Ozarks Inc. (NASDAQ:OZRK) also had corporate insiders buy shares last week. Director John B. Reynolds bought 750 shares on Thursday at $43.64 apiece, lifting his ownership to 18,649 shares. Mr. Reynolds also holds an indirect ownership stake of 526 shares, which are held in a trust fund for his child. Moreover, Board member Richard L. Cisne acquired 3,700 shares on the same day at a weighted average price of $44.29, which increased his holding to 77,950 shares. The recent insider buying activity comes after the company released its first quarter earnings report on April 11.

Bank of the Ozarks is a bank holding company that owns an Arkansas state chartered subsidiary bank, called Bank of the Ozarks. The bank conducts operations through 174 offices, which include 81 offices in Arkansas, 28 in Georgia, 25 in North Carolina, 22 in Texas, ten in Florida, three in Alabama, two offices each in South Carolina and New York, and one office in California. While most dividend-paying companies tend to raise dividend payments on an annual basis, Bank of the Ozarks keeps raising dividends each quarter. Earlier this month, the bank’s Board approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.155 per share, which was increased by $0.005 per share. More importantly, this dividend increase marked the 23^rd consecutive quarterly cash dividend increase. Even so, the freshly-increased dividend payment equates to a dividend yield of only 1.42%, which is below the yield of 3.17% offered by regional banking company BB&T Corporation (NYSE:BBT), as well as the 2.44% yield offered by M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE:MTB) and the 2.42% yield provided by PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE:PNC).

Let’s take a brief look at the company’s first quarter earnings report, which revealed that the bank’s net income for the quarter increased by 29.6% year-over-year to a record $51.7 million. Diluted earnings per share reached $0.57, increasing by 21.3% year-over-year. Furthermore, net interest income generated by Bank of the Ozarks reached a record $112.5 million, up from $85.5 million in the first quarter of 2015. The increase was mainly driven by higher average earnings assets, which increased by a whopping 42% year-over-year to $9.36 billion.

Shares of Bank of the Ozarks are down by 11% year-t0-date and trade at a forward P/E multiple of 13.9, which is above the ratio of 11.0 for the regional banks industry. The Arkansas-based bank’s forward P/E ratio is also higher than the ratio of 10.5 for BB&T Corporation, 12.5 for M&T Bank Corporation, and 10.9 for PNC Financial Services Group. There were 15 hedge funds in our database with stakes in Bank of the Ozarks at the end of December, which held nearly 5% of the bank’s outstanding common stock. Charles Paquelet’s Skylands Capital trimmed its stake in Bank Of The Ozarks Inc. (NASDAQ:OZRK) by 15% during the first quarter of 2016, ending the three-month period with 22,600 shares.

Biopharmaceutical Company Nymox Has Seen a Board Member Consistently Buy Shares Lately

Let’s wrap up our discussion by looking into the insider buying at Nymox Pharmaceutical Corporation (NASDAQ:NYMX), which has seen one Board member buy regularly over the past several months. Director James G. Robinson purchased 39,500 shares last week at prices that ranged from $2.19 to $2.53 per share. Mr. Robinson, who was appointed to the company’s Board in July 2015, currently owns 2.76 million shares directly, as well as holding an additional indirect ownership stake of 45,050 shares.

Nymox Pharmaceutical is a biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the development of a drug candidate, called NX-1207, for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia or BPH and the treatment of low-grade localized prostate cancer. Moreover, the company also markets NicAlert and TobacAlert, inexpensive tests that use urine or saliva to detect whether an individual uses tobacco products (NicAlert) or has been recently exposed to second-hand smoke (TobacAlert). Going back to the NX-1207 drug candidate, the company announced promising initial clinical results from a Phase 3 development program in BPH last summer, so the company’s management intends to meet with regulatory authorities across the globe to discuss the possibility of filing for approval. Nonetheless, investors should be aware that the company’s NX-1207 enlarged prostate treatment will face strong competition from existing products should the drug receive approval. It is said that nine drugs have been approved for the treatment of BPH, which include five proprietary drugs and four generics. In early February, Nymox Pharmaceutical raised $2.1 million through a private placement at $2.00 per share with no warrants, with the raised capital being expected to be used for the continuation of the company’s projects.

Shares of Nymox Pharmaceutical have advanced by 135% in the past 52 weeks, but are down by 28% year-to-date. No money managers tracked by Insider Monkey had long positions in Nymox Pharmaceutical Corporation (NASDAQ:NYMX) at the end of December.

Disclosure: None