Home Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBCP) Short Interest Down 7.9% in November

Home Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBCP) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 39,600 shares, a drop of 7.9% from the November 15th total of 43,000 shares. Currently, 0.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 18,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HBCP. Hovde Group lowered shares of Home Bancorp from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $54.50 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of Home Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Home Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Home Bancorp by 73.8% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,377 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $106,000 after acquiring an additional 1,009 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Home Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at about $110,000. Barclays PLC raised its position in Home Bancorp by 287.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 9,142 shares of the bank’s stock worth $407,000 after purchasing an additional 6,785 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P lifted its stake in Home Bancorp by 2.9% in the third quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 14,172 shares of the bank’s stock worth $632,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 2,622 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.41% of the company’s stock.

Home Bancorp Price Performance

Home Bancorp stock opened at $49.37 on Monday. Home Bancorp has a 52-week low of $33.30 and a 52-week high of $52.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $47.93 and its 200 day moving average is $43.29. The company has a market cap of $398.71 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.95 and a beta of 0.70.

Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $34.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.10 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Home Bancorp will post 4.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. This is a positive change from Home Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. Home Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.06%.

Home Bancorp Company Profile

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.