Don't Ignore The Insider Selling In Pacific Premier Bancorp

We'd be surprised if Pacific Premier Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:PPBI) shareholders haven't noticed that the Independent Director, Jeffrey Jones, recently sold US$266k worth of stock at US$23.62 per share. However, the silver lining is that the sale only reduced their total holding by 7.8%, so we're hesitant to read anything much into it, on its own.

See our latest analysis for Pacific Premier Bancorp

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Pacific Premier Bancorp

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the Senior EVP & Deputy CFO, Lori Wright, for US$385k worth of shares, at about US$29.62 per share. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place at a lower price. The good news is that this large sale was at well above current price of US$23.38. So it may not shed much light on insider confidence at current levels.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$30k for 1.24k shares. But they sold 50.09k shares for US$1.2m. All up, insiders sold more shares in Pacific Premier Bancorp than they bought, over the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

If you like to buy stocks that insiders are buying, rather than selling, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: Most of them are flying under the radar).

Insider Ownership

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. It appears that Pacific Premier Bancorp insiders own 2.3% of the company, worth about US$52m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

So What Do The Pacific Premier Bancorp Insider Transactions Indicate?

An insider sold Pacific Premier Bancorp shares recently, but they didn't buy any. And our longer term analysis of insider transactions didn't bring confidence, either. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. We'd practice some caution before buying! So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. You'd be interested to know, that we found 2 warning signs for Pacific Premier Bancorp and we suggest you have a look.

Of course Pacific Premier Bancorp 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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.