Wall Street Zen Upgrades HomeTrust Bancshares (NYSE:HTB) to “Hold”

HomeTrust Bancshares (NYSE:HTB) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

HTB has been the topic of several other reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (a-)” rating on shares of HomeTrust Bancshares in a research note on Wednesday. Zacks Research downgraded HomeTrust Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Stephens raised their price objective on HomeTrust Bancshares from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Raymond James Financial upgraded HomeTrust Bancshares to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of HomeTrust Bancshares in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.00.

HomeTrust Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of HTB stock opened at $48.10 on Friday. HomeTrust Bancshares has a 12-month low of $38.82 and a 12-month high of $52.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $46.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $802.79 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.12 and a beta of 0.81.

HomeTrust Bancshares (NYSE:HTB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The company reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $55.95 million for the quarter. HomeTrust Bancshares had a net margin of 23.19% and a return on equity of 11.12%. Equities research analysts predict that HomeTrust Bancshares will post 3.90 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at HomeTrust Bancshares

In other news, Director Laura Kendall sold 10,000 shares of HomeTrust Bancshares stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.13, for a total transaction of $511,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 24,229 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,238,828.77. This trade represents a 29.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 11.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in HomeTrust Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth about $83,715,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP purchased a new stake in HomeTrust Bancshares in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,667,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in HomeTrust Bancshares in the 1st quarter valued at about $19,884,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in HomeTrust Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,099,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in HomeTrust Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth about $3,647,000. 60.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

HomeTrust Bancshares Company Profile

HomeTrust Bancshares, Inc is the holding company for HomeTrust Bank, a community-focused financial institution headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina. The company provides banking services to individuals, families, businesses and nonprofit organizations through a network of branches and digital banking channels.

HomeTrust Bank offers deposit products such as checking, savings, money market and certificate of deposit accounts, along with residential mortgages, home equity loans, consumer lending and commercial loans.