Horizon Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBNC) Short Interest Up 20.7% in March

Horizon Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBNC) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 664,700 shares, an increase of 20.7% from the February 28th total of 550,500 shares. Currently, 1.6% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 169,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.9 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Horizon Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HBNC. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Horizon Bancorp by 362.6% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,233 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of Horizon Bancorp by 508.1% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,753 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Horizon Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Aquatic Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Horizon Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $51,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Horizon Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $82,000. Institutional investors own 64.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Horizon Bancorp from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Horizon Bancorp from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th.

Horizon Bancorp Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of HBNC traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $15.14. The stock had a trading volume of 73,341 shares, compared to its average volume of 163,416. The firm has a market cap of $666.39 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.93 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.44. Horizon Bancorp has a twelve month low of $11.18 and a twelve month high of $19.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Horizon Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.03). Horizon Bancorp had a net margin of 9.86% and a return on equity of 8.48%. On average, analysts anticipate that Horizon Bancorp will post 1.78 EPS for the current year.

Horizon Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.23%. Horizon Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.00%.

About Horizon Bancorp

Horizon Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Horizon Bank that engages in the provision of commercial and retail banking services. The company offers checking, saving, money market, certificate of deposits, individual retirement accounts, and time deposits, as well as non-interest- and interest-bearing demand deposits.