Home Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBCP) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Home Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBCP) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 43,000 shares, a decrease of 6.3% from the October 31st total of 45,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 18,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days. Currently, 0.6% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Home Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Raymond James raised shares of Home Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Hovde Group cut shares of Home Bancorp from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $54.50 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th.

Home Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of HBCP traded down $1.10 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $49.99. 12,809 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,360. Home Bancorp has a 12 month low of $33.30 and a 12 month high of $52.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $403.72 million, a P/E ratio of 11.33 and a beta of 0.70. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $46.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.21. Home Bancorp had a net margin of 18.55% and a return on equity of 9.58%. The business had revenue of $34.07 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.10 million. Equities analysts predict that Home Bancorp will post 4.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Home Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This is a boost from Home Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Home Bancorp’s payout ratio is 23.06%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of Home Bancorp by 73.8% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,377 shares of the bank’s stock worth $106,000 after acquiring an additional 1,009 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Home Bancorp in the third quarter worth about $110,000. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Home Bancorp by 287.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 9,142 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $407,000 after purchasing an additional 6,785 shares during the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P raised its position in shares of Home Bancorp by 2.9% in the third quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 14,172 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $632,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Home Bancorp by 12.6% in the third quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,374 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,042,000 after buying an additional 2,622 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.41% of the company’s stock.

About Home Bancorp

Home Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Home Bank, National Association that provides various banking products and services in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. It offers deposit products, including interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing checking, money market, savings, NOW, and certificates of deposit accounts.