OFG Bancorp Chief Strategy Officer of U.S. Business Ganesh Kumar Sells 31% Of Holding

We wouldn't blame OFG Bancorp (NYSE:OFG) shareholders if they were a little worried about the fact that Ganesh Kumar, the Chief Strategy Officer of U.S. Business recently netted about US$1.3m selling shares at an average price of US$38.00. That sale reduced their total holding by 31% which is hardly insignificant, but far from the worst we've seen.

Check out our latest analysis for OFG Bancorp

OFG Bancorp Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The President, Jose Fernandez, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$2.1m worth of shares at a price of US$37.51 each. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even slightly below the current price of US$37.85. We generally consider it a negative if insiders have been selling, especially if they did so below the current price, because it implies that they considered a lower price to be reasonable. While insider selling is not a positive sign, we can't be sure if it does mean insiders think the shares are fully valued, so it's only a weak sign. We note that the biggest single sale was only 13% of Jose Fernandez's holding.

Insiders in OFG Bancorp didn't buy any shares in 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!

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

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. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It appears that OFG Bancorp insiders own 1.9% of the company, worth about US$33m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

So What Do The OFG Bancorp Insider Transactions Indicate?

Insiders sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. And even if we look at the last year, we didn't see any purchases. But it is good to see that OFG Bancorp is growing earnings. 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. When we did our research, we found 3 warning signs for OFG Bancorp (1 is a bit unpleasant!) that we believe deserve your full attention.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

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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