Home Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBCP) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Home Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBCP) was the target of a large increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 56,000 shares, an increase of 12.2% from the August 15th total of 49,900 shares. Approximately 0.8% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 18,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days.

Home Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of HBCP stock traded up $0.78 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $43.73. 3,907 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,906. Home Bancorp has a 12-month low of $31.47 and a 12-month high of $45.44. The company has a market capitalization of $355.44 million, a PE ratio of 9.06 and a beta of 0.69. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The bank reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. Home Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.98% and a net margin of 19.16%. The firm had revenue of $49.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.90 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.21 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Home Bancorp will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Home Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. Home Bancorp’s payout ratio is 21.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Home Bancorp

In other Home Bancorp news, Director Daniel G. Guidry sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.48, for a total transaction of $207,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 66,819 shares in the company, valued at $2,771,652.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 7.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HBCP. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in Home Bancorp by 120.9% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 140,352 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,615,000 after acquiring an additional 76,812 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Home Bancorp by 2.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 398,376 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,938,000 after purchasing an additional 8,219 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Home Bancorp by 8.0% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 35,951 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,438,000 after buying an additional 2,672 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Home Bancorp by 29.3% in the 1st quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 22,832 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $875,000 after buying an additional 5,177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Home Bancorp by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 365,043 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,985,000 after buying an additional 3,414 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 49.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Hovde Group raised their price target on Home Bancorp from $45.00 to $48.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th.

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.