StockNews.com Upgrades Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP) to “Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Friday morning.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Raymond James upgraded Home Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Hovde Group downgraded Home Bancorp from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $53.00 to $54.50 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th.

Home Bancorp Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ HBCP opened at $46.29 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $373.84 million, a PE ratio of 10.26 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Home Bancorp has a 52-week low of $33.30 and a 52-week high of $52.39. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $48.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.24.

Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.21. Home Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.58% and a net margin of 18.55%. The company had revenue of $34.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.10 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Home Bancorp will post 4.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Home Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This is a boost from Home Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. Home Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.06%.

Institutional Trading of Home Bancorp

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of Home Bancorp by 73.8% in the 3rd 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. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Home Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $110,000. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Home Bancorp by 287.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 9,142 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $407,000 after buying an additional 6,785 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P raised its holdings in Home Bancorp by 2.9% during the third quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 14,172 shares of the bank’s stock worth $632,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Home Bancorp by 136.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,668 shares of the bank’s stock worth $654,000 after purchasing an additional 8,459 shares during the last quarter. 49.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Home Bancorp

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.