Home Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBCP) Short Interest Up 42.6% in March

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

Home Bancorp Price Performance

HBCP stock traded down $0.50 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $44.80. 72,838 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,797. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $47.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.81. Home Bancorp has a 12 month low of $33.30 and a 12 month high of $52.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $362.79 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.85 and a beta of 0.72.

Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The bank reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.07. Home Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 18.27%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Home Bancorp will post 4.78 EPS for the current year.

Home Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This is a boost from Home Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.41%. Home Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 23.74%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Home Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HBCP. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Home Bancorp by 73.8% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,377 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $106,000 after buying an additional 1,009 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P lifted its stake in shares of Home Bancorp by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 14,172 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $632,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Home Bancorp by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 156,752 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,988,000 after acquiring an additional 2,269 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 6,785 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Home Bancorp by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 162,727 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,256,000 after acquiring an additional 1,874 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 49.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HBCP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Home Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Home Bancorp in a research report on Friday, February 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $60.00 target price for the company.

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.