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

Home Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBCP) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 56,000 shares, an increase of 12.2% from the August 15th total of 49,900 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 18,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days. Currently, 0.8% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Hovde Group boosted their price objective on shares of Home Bancorp from $45.00 to $48.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Daniel G. Guidry sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.48, for a total value of $207,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 66,819 shares in the company, valued at $2,771,652.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 7.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Home Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HBCP. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Home Bancorp by 0.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 365,043 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,985,000 after buying an additional 3,414 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Home Bancorp by 531.8% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 12,289 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $471,000 after purchasing an additional 10,344 shares during the period. Cullen Investment Group LTD. increased its position in Home Bancorp by 12.0% during the first quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 32,151 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,183,000 after purchasing an additional 3,454 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Home Bancorp by 29.3% during the first quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 22,832 shares of the bank’s stock worth $875,000 after purchasing an additional 5,177 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Home Bancorp by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 26,509 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,016,000 after purchasing an additional 1,925 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.41% of the company’s stock.

Home Bancorp Stock Up 1.7 %

Home Bancorp stock opened at $44.20 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $359.26 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.32 and a beta of 0.69. Home Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $31.47 and a fifty-two week high of $45.44. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $42.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The bank reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $49.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.90 million. Home Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.98% and a net margin of 19.16%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.21 EPS. Analysts predict that Home Bancorp will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Home Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.10%.

About Home Bancorp

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.