Short Interest in Home Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBCP) Rises By 15.5%

Home Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBCP) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 29,000 shares, a growth of 15.5% from the January 15th total of 25,100 shares. Currently, 0.4% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 22,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.3 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HBCP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James raised shares of Home Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Home Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Hovde Group cut shares of Home Bancorp from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $53.00 to $54.50 in a report on Tuesday, November 12th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its holdings in shares of Home Bancorp by 100.7% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 590 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in Home Bancorp by 247.9% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,322 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 942 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in Home Bancorp by 73.8% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,377 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $106,000 after purchasing an additional 1,009 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Home Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at $110,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Home Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $180,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.41% of the company’s stock.

Home Bancorp Stock Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ HBCP traded down $0.37 on Monday, hitting $49.48. 9,014 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,837. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Home Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $33.30 and a fifty-two week high of $52.77. The company has a market cap of $399.80 million, a PE ratio of 10.87 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $47.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.83.

Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The bank reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.07. Home Bancorp had a net margin of 18.27% and a return on equity of 9.57%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Home Bancorp will post 4.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This is a boost from Home Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.18%. Home Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.86%.

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.