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

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

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on HOMB. Piper Sandler set a $34.00 price objective on Home BancShares and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Home BancShares in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Home BancShares from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on Home BancShares in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $32.00 target price on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Home BancShares has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.83.

Home BancShares Stock Down 0.2%

HOMB stock opened at $26.99 on Friday. Home BancShares has a twelve month low of $24.22 and a twelve month high of $32.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market cap of $5.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $28.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.47.

Home BancShares (NYSE:HOMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.01. Home BancShares had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 31.20%.The firm had revenue of $277.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $269.96 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Home BancShares will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Home BancShares Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 12th. This is an increase from Home BancShares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Home BancShares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.21%.

Insider Activity at Home BancShares

In other news, CEO John W. Allison sold 110,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,540,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $166,334,095.52. This represents a 1.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Home BancShares

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of HOMB. Binnacle Investments Inc increased its position in Home BancShares by 76.7% in the second quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc now owns 1,329 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 577 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S bought a new stake in Home BancShares in the first quarter worth $39,000. First Horizon Corp bought a new stake in Home BancShares in the third quarter worth $43,000. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in Home BancShares in the first quarter worth $64,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position 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 worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 995 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

Home BancShares Company Profile

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.