Quaint Oak Bancorp Inc. of Southampton, Pa., said late Tuesday that it would ask the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for permission to repurchase up to 5% of its stock.
The $60.9 million-asset company needs permission because regulations restrict stock repurchases within the first year after a banking company goes public. Quaint Oak completed a standard conversion from a mutual thrift to a fully stock-owned company July 3, raising $13.9 million.
But its shares, like those of some other recently converted mutuals, have been trading below the initial offering price of $10.
Robert T. Strong, Quaint Oak's president and chief executive officer, said in a press release that a buyback would be "a beneficial use of cash, given the current market price for our common stock."
News of the potential buyback gave Quaint Oak a boost. By Wednesday afternoon, the shares had climbed 1.6%, to $9.50.
Quaint Oak is the second recently converted thrift company in the Philadelphia area in less than a month to announce its intent to conduct an early buyback.
The $3.5 billion-asset Beneficial Mutual Bancorp in Philadelphia, which also converted in July, said Oct. 2 that it would seek permission to buy back up to 5% of its stock.
