Home Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBCP) Short Interest Down 6.3% in November

Home Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBCP) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 43,000 shares, a decrease of 6.3% from the October 31st total of 45,900 shares. Approximately 0.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 18,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Home Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ HBCP opened at $49.99 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $46.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.56. Home Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $33.30 and a fifty-two week high of $52.39. The company has a market cap of $403.92 million, a P/E ratio of 11.08 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $34.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.10 million. Home Bancorp had a net margin of 18.55% and a return on equity of 9.58%. Sell-side analysts predict that Home Bancorp will post 4.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Home Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. This is a boost from Home Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Home Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 23.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HBCP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James raised Home Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, October 21st. Hovde Group lowered shares of Home Bancorp from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $53.00 to $54.50 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Home Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Home Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Home Bancorp by 73.8% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,377 shares of the bank’s stock worth $106,000 after buying an additional 1,009 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Home Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth about $110,000. Barclays PLC increased its position in Home Bancorp by 287.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 9,142 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $407,000 after purchasing an additional 6,785 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P increased its position in Home Bancorp by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 14,172 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $632,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Home Bancorp by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,374 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,042,000 after purchasing an additional 2,622 shares in the last quarter. 49.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.