Short Interest in HomeStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ:HMST) Decreases By 6.2%

HomeStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ:HMST) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 497,400 shares, a drop of 6.2% from the August 15th total of 530,200 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 144,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.4 days. Approximately 2.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

HomeStreet Trading Up 2.0 %

NASDAQ HMST opened at $15.30 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $288.53 million, a P/E ratio of -7.18 and a beta of 1.37. HomeStreet has a fifty-two week low of $4.20 and a fifty-two week high of $16.10. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $14.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14.

HomeStreet (NASDAQ:HMST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The financial services provider reported ($0.23) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $114.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.33 million. HomeStreet had a negative return on equity of 1.87% and a negative net margin of 3.30%. On average, analysts forecast that HomeStreet will post -0.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at HomeStreet

In other news, Director Paulette Lemon sold 2,401 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.59, for a total value of $37,431.59. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $263,829.57. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 4.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HomeStreet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp lifted its holdings in HomeStreet by 21.0% in the second quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 363,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,138,000 after buying an additional 63,000 shares during the period. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of HomeStreet by 113.6% in the 2nd quarter. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 706,253 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,051,000 after purchasing an additional 375,581 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of HomeStreet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $410,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in shares of HomeStreet during the second quarter valued at approximately $122,000. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in HomeStreet by 23.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 14,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $164,000 after purchasing an additional 2,703 shares during the period. 74.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on HomeStreet from $13.50 to $14.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on HomeStreet in a research note on Saturday, September 14th. They set a “sell” rating for the company. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott raised shares of HomeStreet from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $13.50 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.25.

HomeStreet Company Profile

HomeStreet, Inc operates as the bank holding company for HomeStreet Bank that provides commercial, mortgage, and consumer/retail banking services in the Western United States. The company offers personal and business checking, savings, interest-bearing negotiable order of withdrawal, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit; credit cards; insurance; and treasury management services.