Well-Known Rent-A-Center Inc. (RCII) and Two Other Companies Highlight Recent Insider Buying Activity

The CEO of a Leading Rent-to-Own Company Purchases Some Shares

The man at the helm of Rent-A-Center Inc. (NASDAQ:RCII) purchased a sizable block of shares earlier this week. CEO Robert D. Davis snapped up 10,000 shares on Monday at a price tag of $10.87 each. Following this relatively sizable purchase, Mr. Davis currently holds an ownership stake of 131,850 shares.

The furniture and electronics rent-to-own company has lost roughly 28% of its market value since the beginning of 2016, as the company’s same store revenue has been impacted by the rollout of a new point-of-sale system, the ongoing recast of the smartphone category, sustained declines in the computer and tablet category, as well as further deterioration in oil affected markets. Rent-A-Center Inc. (NASDAQ:RCII), considered the nation’s largest rent-to-own company, reported total store revenue of $743.44 million for the second quarter, which decreased 8.3% year-on-year. Revenues in the company’s Core U.S. segment, which consists of company-owned rent-to-own stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, decreased due the continued rationalization of its store base, as well as a 6.7% decreased in same store revenues. More importantly, the weak second-quarter earnings report forced Rent-A-Center to revise its full-year outlook. The company currently anticipates core revenue to decline in the range of 8.5%-to-11.5%, roughly double what the management previously anticipated. Core same store sales are expected to drop in the range of 5%-to-8%.

There were 21 asset managers from our database with long position in the rent-to-own company at the end of the first quarter, which aggregately amassed roughly 15% of the company’s total number of outstanding shares. Radix Partners LLC, run by Joshua Packwood and Schuster Tanger, cut its stake in Rent-A-Center Inc. (NASDAQ:RCII) by 17% during the June quarter to 28,381 shares.

Low-Priced Bank Holding Company Registers Insider Buying

Porter Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PBIB) was yet another company that witnessed insider buying earlier this week. Board member Norman Marcus Satterthwaite bought 10,000 shares on Monday at $1.65 apiece, lifting his ownership to 144,809 shares.

Porter Bancorp is a Kentucky-based bank holding company for PBI Bank, the tenth-largest bank domiciled in the Commonwealth of Kentucky based on assets. The bank made significant progress in reducing its net-performing assets in the first half of 2016, as non-performing assets were reduced by $5.1 million in the second quarter after achieving reductions of $4.3 million in the first quarter. Non-performing assets decreased to $23.9 million or 2.61% of total assets on June 30 from 3.09% of total assets recorded at the end of March and 7.13% of total assets at the end of June 2015. Moreover, Porter Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PBIB) reported net income of $979,000 for the second quarter, as compared with a net loss of $2.0 million posted for the second quarter of the prior year.

Porter Bancorp’s shares have gained 13% since the beginning of 2016. George Hall’s Clinton Group was the owner of 360,900 shares of Porter Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PBIB) at the end of the first quarter.

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