Home Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBCP) Short Interest Update

Home Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBCP) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 104,632 shares, an increase of 22.6% from the February 26th total of 85,371 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 99,278 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.1 days.

Home Bancorp Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:HBCP traded up $0.16 during trading on Monday, hitting $60.25. 133,894 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 123,070. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market cap of $472.36 million, a P/E ratio of 10.26 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $60.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.65. Home Bancorp has a 1-year low of $39.59 and a 1-year high of $64.17.

Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The bank reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $38.05 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.73 million. Home Bancorp had a net margin of 22.01% and a return on equity of 11.03%. Equities analysts predict that Home Bancorp will post 4.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Home Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Home Bancorp’s payout ratio is 21.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Home Bancorp news, Director Chris P. Rader purchased 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $59.50 per share, with a total value of $29,750.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 17,714 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,053,983. This trade represents a 2.90% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 7.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Home Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HBCP. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Home Bancorp by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 375,209 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,383,000 after buying an additional 3,760 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Home Bancorp by 20.9% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 126,791 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,565,000 after acquiring an additional 21,945 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Home Bancorp by 64.2% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 119,053 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,468,000 after purchasing an additional 46,546 shares during the period. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Home Bancorp by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 110,496 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,387,000 after purchasing an additional 2,182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Home Bancorp by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 106,303 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,144,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Home Bancorp in a report on Friday. Hovde Group increased their price target on shares of Home Bancorp from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Home Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $63.00.

About Home Bancorp

Home Bancorp, Inc is the bank holding company for The Home National Bank, a full-service financial institution headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana. The company operates as a regional commercial bank serving individuals, small businesses and municipalities across Louisiana and East Texas. Through its network of branches and digital banking platforms, Home Bancorp offers a range of deposit and lending solutions designed to meet the needs of its local markets.

The company’s core offerings include retail deposit products such as checking, savings and money market accounts, as well as a variety of commercial and consumer lending services.