By WILLIAM DOOLITTLE
Monroe Messenger
It’s time to say a little bit about ESSA Bancorp, the
new name for East Stroudsburg Savings Association,
that went public last month. Customers and employees
of the bank were able to buy the initial offering of
stock at $10 a share. The offering shares were over-subscribed and the
bank had to cut back all customers who came after 2005.
Securities and Exchange documents also indicate that
the bank’s directors had to take a cut in their
desired shares so that all of the bank’s customers
could be accommodated. Even at that, the bank sold more
shares than it anticipated in its most optimistic
scenario.
Almost immediately after trading began in April, the
price jumped to $12 a share, a 20 percent increase,
but it has drifted off a little since.
Clearly, that did not deter two insiders — Director
Frederick Kutteroff, who bought $239,490 worth, and
Vice President Thomas Grayuski, who invested
$33,270. In several transactions, the pair were busy
buying ESSA (the over-the-counter stock symbol) shares
on the open market at around $12 a share.
Insider trading must be made public and is posted by
the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The local bank is the second largest in our market
and plans to use the $159 million raised in the stock
sale for internal and external expansion.
In addition, the bank funded its ESSA Foundation with
common stock and cash. In 2005, the ESSA Foundation
gave away just under half a million dollars to local
organizations.
The bank intends to contribute up to 7 percent
of the shares of common stock of ESSA Bancorp, Inc.
“that will be sold in the offering, and up to $1.6
million in cash, to a charitable foundation
established by ESSA Bank & Trust.”
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(disclosure: the author owns stock in ESSA Bancorp.)
