Home BancShares (NYSE:HOMB) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Home BancShares (NYSE:HOMB) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday morning.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on Home BancShares in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $32.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Home BancShares from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Home BancShares from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Home BancShares in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.00.

Home BancShares Stock Performance

HOMB stock opened at $28.33 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $28.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a market cap of $5.58 billion, a PE ratio of 12.93 and a beta of 0.78. Home BancShares has a 1-year low of $24.22 and a 1-year high of $32.90.

Home BancShares (NYSE:HOMB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.58. The firm had revenue of $271.03 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $262.56 million. Home BancShares had a return on equity of 10.60% and a net margin of 29.58%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Home BancShares will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Home BancShares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 13th. Home BancShares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.53%.

Insider Transactions at Home BancShares

In related news, CEO John W. Allison sold 110,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.02, for a total transaction of $3,302,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 5,540,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $166,334,095.52. This represents a 1.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Home BancShares

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HOMB. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Home BancShares by 60.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 995 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Home BancShares in the first quarter valued at approximately $820,000. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in shares of Home BancShares by 60.5% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,468 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 1,307 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Home BancShares by 12.8% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 18,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $522,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its position in shares of Home BancShares by 2.7% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 21,657 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $612,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

About Home BancShares

Home Bancshares, Inc (Conway, AR) operates as the bank holding company for Centennial Bank that provides commercial and retail banking, and related financial services to businesses, real estate developers and investors, individuals, and municipalities. Its deposit products include checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit.