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

Home Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBCP) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totaling 68,729 shares, a drop of 22.4% from the December 15th total of 88,542 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 21,895 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days. Currently, 1.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Currently, 1.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 21,895 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in 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. raised its stake in shares of Home Bancorp by 20.9% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 126,791 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,565,000 after acquiring an additional 21,945 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Home Bancorp by 64.2% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 119,053 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,468,000 after purchasing an additional 46,546 shares during the period. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Home Bancorp by 52.6% during the third quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,314 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,884,000 after purchasing an additional 37,318 shares during the period. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Home Bancorp by 6.9% in the third quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 72,109 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,917,000 after purchasing an additional 4,677 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Home Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Home Bancorp in a report on Monday, December 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.50.

Home Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HBCP traded down $0.62 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $60.83. 18,146 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,376. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $57.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.62. The stock has a market cap of $476.30 million, a P/E ratio of 10.82 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Home Bancorp has a one year low of $39.59 and a one year high of $62.15.

Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The bank reported $1.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $37.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.33 million. Home Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.87% and a net margin of 21.32%.During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.18 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Home Bancorp will post 4.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Home Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were given a $0.31 dividend. This is a boost from Home Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 3rd. Home Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 22.06%.

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.