It’s been an interesting week following the collapse of SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ:SIVB) subsidiary Silicon Valley Bank. The stock market received a major blessing after it was announced that government agencies would backstop and insure the bank’s deposits, even above the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) limit of $250,000.
Now, it appears that the move to protect Silicon Valley Bank’s deposits have inspired confidence for insiders of other bank stocks. This week, several insiders of banks, both small and large, reported increasing their respective stakes. In fact, insider buying of banks and financial institutions made up a vast majority of the the largest insider buys this week.
Let’s get into the details.
Top Insider Buys of the Week
- SoFi (NASDAQ:SOFI): CEO Anthony Noto has purchased SOFI stock several times during the past year. However, the timing of his recent buy during the height of the Silicon Valley Bank drama shows particular conviction. On March 10, he reported purchasing 180,000 shares with a value of just under $1 million. From March 13 to March 16, he added another 45,000 shares worth about $250,000.
- PacWest Bancorp (NASDAQ:PACW): PacWest has seen an incredible amount of insider buying this week. Since March 9, insiders like Executive Chairman Matthew Wagner and President and CEO Paul Taylor have purchased a total of 95,993 shares. The company announced yesterday that it was in talks for a “liquidity boost” with Atlas SP Partners and other firms. The exact details of the boost were not disclosed.
- Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW): Insiders, including CEO Walter Bettinger and CFO Peter Crawford, have purchased a total of 115,144 shares with a combined value of $6.73 million since March 14.
- Gitlab (NASDAQ:GTLB): Shares of GTLB plunged by more than 30% after the source code company reported weak guidance for 2023. Still, both Q4 revenue and earnings per share (EPS) came ahead of analyst estimates. The decline inspired early investor Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) to buy the dip, picking up about $19 million worth of shares on March 13 and 14 through its venture capital arm.
- Howard Hughes Corp (NYSE:HHC): Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square has established a significant position in the real estate development company. From March 13 to March 15, the hedge fund purchased $4.66 million worth of HHC stock, bringing its total stake to 15.95 million shares.
On the date of publication, Eddie Pan held a LONG position in GOOGL. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
