Kearny Financial Insider Confidence Rewarded, Stock Hits US$432m Market Cap

Kearny Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:KRNY) insiders who bought shares over the past year were rewarded handsomely last week. The stock rose 13%, resulting in a US$54m rise in the company's market capitalisation, translating to a gain of 16% on their initial investment. As a result, their original purchase of US$253.6k worth of stock is now worth US$294.7k.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

See our latest analysis for Kearny Financial

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Kearny Financial

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by Independent Director Christopher Petermann for US$61k worth of shares, at about US$6.15 per share. We do like to see buying, but this purchase was made at well below the current price of US$7.25. Because it occurred at a lower valuation, it doesn't tell us much about whether insiders might find today's price attractive.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$254k for 40.65k shares. On the other hand they divested 9.80k shares, for US$59k. Overall, Kearny Financial insiders were net buyers during the last year. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. If investing in lesser known companies is your style, you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Kearny Financial Insiders Bought Stock Recently

There was some insider buying at Kearny Financial over the last quarter. insider Melvina Wong-Zaza bought US$53k worth of shares in that time. However, Executive VP & Chief Credit Officer Thomas DeMedici netted US$38k for sales. It is good to see that insiders have been buying, but they did not buy very many shares, in the scheme of things.

Insider Ownership

I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. It appears that Kearny Financial insiders own 5.2% of the company, worth about US$23m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

So What Do The Kearny Financial Insider Transactions Indicate?

Insider purchases may have been minimal, in the last three months, but there was no selling at all. Overall the buying isn't worth writing home about. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. Insiders own shares in Kearny Financial and we see no evidence to suggest they are worried about the future. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Kearny Financial. To assist with this, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of Kearny Financial.

Of course Kearny Financial may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.