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

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on HBCP. StockNews.com cut Home Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Hovde Group downgraded shares of Home Bancorp from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $54.50 in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Home Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, October 21st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Home Bancorp by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 18,187 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $840,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC acquired a new position in Home Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $919,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Home Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $180,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in Home Bancorp by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 8,335 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $385,000 after purchasing an additional 2,006 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in shares of Home Bancorp by 58.3% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 8,012 shares of the bank’s stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 2,950 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 49.41% of the company’s stock.

Home Bancorp Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of HBCP traded down $0.37 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $49.48. The stock had a trading volume of 9,014 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,837. The firm has a market cap of $399.80 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.87 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.83. Home Bancorp has a twelve month low of $33.30 and a twelve month high of $52.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The bank reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.07. Home Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 18.27%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Home Bancorp will post 4.78 EPS for the current year.

Home Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. 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 yield of 2.18%. Home Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.86%.

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.