Potential Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) shareholders may wish to note that the EVP & President of the Bank, Hamid Hussain, recently bought US$296k worth of stock, paying US$21.12 for each share. We reckon that's a good sign, especially since the purchase boosted their holding by 185%.

Banc of California Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent purchase by EVP & President of the Bank Hamid Hussain was not their only trade of Banc of California shares this year. They previously made a sale of -US$668k worth of shares at a price of US$16.81 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even below the current price of US$20.21. 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. This single sale was 84% of Hamid Hussain's stake.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 24.00k shares worth US$427k. But they sold 75.07k shares for US$1.1m. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Banc of California shares, than buying. The average sell price was around US$15.31. We don't gain confidence from insider selling below the recent share price. Of course, the sales could be motivated for a multitude of reasons, so we shouldn't jump to conclusions. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of small cap stocks that are not only being bought by insiders but also have attractive valuations.

Does Banc of California Boast High Insider Ownership?

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It appears that Banc of California insiders own 0.8% of the company, worth about US$24m. 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 Banc of California Insider Transactions Indicate?

It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchase. On the other hand the transaction history, over the last year, isn't so positive. While recent transactions indicate confidence in Banc of California, insiders don't own enough of the company to overcome our cautiousness about the longer term transactions. Overall they seem reasonably aligned. Therefore, you should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Banc of California.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting 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.

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.