Short Interest in Home Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBCP) Rises By 42.6%

Home Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBCP) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 34,800 shares, a growth of 42.6% from the February 28th total of 24,400 shares. Currently, 0.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 24,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Home Bancorp

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its position in shares of Home Bancorp by 100.7% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 590 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in Home Bancorp by 247.9% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,322 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 942 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake 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 lifted its holdings in Home Bancorp by 27.2% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,125 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $144,000 after acquiring an additional 668 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Home Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $180,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.41% of the company’s stock.

Home Bancorp Trading Down 2.3 %

NASDAQ:HBCP traded down $1.08 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $45.30. 11,457 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,581. Home Bancorp has a twelve month low of $33.30 and a twelve month high of $52.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The business has a 50-day moving average of $47.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.77. The company has a market capitalization of $366.84 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.96 and a beta of 0.72.

Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The bank reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.07. Home Bancorp had a net margin of 18.27% and a return on equity of 9.57%. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Home Bancorp will post 4.78 EPS for the current year.

Home Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. This is a positive change from Home Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Home Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.74%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HBCP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Home Bancorp in a research report on Friday, February 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $60.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com lowered Home Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st.

Home Bancorp Company Profile

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.