Short Interest in Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) (NYSE:HOMB) Grows By 6.6%

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) (NYSE:HOMB) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,360,000 shares, a growth of 6.6% from the December 31st total of 4,090,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 986,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.4 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HOMB. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) in a report on Friday, October 18th. Hovde Group lowered their price target on shares of Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.00.

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HOMB traded up $0.39 on Tuesday, reaching $30.31. 150,089 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,206,789. The company has a fifty day moving average of $29.65 and a 200-day moving average of $28.27. Home Bancshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $22.38 and a twelve month high of $32.90. The company has a market capitalization of $6.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.00 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) (NYSE:HOMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $258.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $256.67 million. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 27.39%. The business’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.43 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Home Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.195 per share. This represents a $0.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 12th. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director James Pat Hickman sold 63,997 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.77, for a total transaction of $1,969,187.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 175,500 shares in the company, valued at $5,400,135. This represents a 26.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jack Engelkes sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.12, for a total transaction of $753,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 199,195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,999,753.40. The trade was a 11.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 90,997 shares of company stock valued at $2,782,548 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 7.66% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 69,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,979,000 after buying an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 20,058 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $568,000 after buying an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) by 49.7% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 427 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) by 0.6% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 85,865 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,326,000 after purchasing an additional 481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) by 41.6% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,797 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 528 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

About Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)

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.