Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Home BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOMB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Tuesday, July 25th. The firm currently has $28.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.
According to Zacks, “HOME BANCSHARES, INC. is a bank holding company, headquartered in Conway, Arkansas, with six wholly owned bank subsidiaries that provide a broad range of commercial and retail banking and related financial services to businesses, real estate developers and investors, individuals and municipalities. Three of the bank subsidiaries are located in the central Arkansas market area, a fourth serves central and southern Arkansas, a fifth serves Stone County in north central Arkansas, and a sixth serves the Florida Keys and southwestern Florida. “
Several other brokerages have also weighed in on HOMB. BidaskClub upgraded shares of Home BancShares from a strong sell rating to a sell rating in a research report on Saturday, June 10th. Merion Capital Group restated a neutral rating and issued a $28.50 price target on shares of Home BancShares in a research report on Monday, April 24th. Stephens restated a buy rating on shares of Home BancShares in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. ValuEngine upgraded shares of Home BancShares from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, July 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a buy rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Home BancShares in a research report on Friday, July 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Home BancShares currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $28.70.
Home BancShares (NASDAQ HOMB) traded up 0.40% during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $24.94. 254,177 shares of the company traded hands. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.68 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $24.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.90. Home BancShares has a 12 month low of $19.74 and a 12 month high of $29.69.
Home BancShares (NASDAQ:HOMB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.02. Home BancShares had a net margin of 33.97% and a return on equity of 13.77%. The business had revenue of $131.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $132.18 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.31 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Home BancShares will post $1.39 earnings per share for the current year.
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The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 16th will be given a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 14th. This is a positive change from Home BancShares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.76%. Home BancShares’s payout ratio is 26.87%.
In related news, insider Tracy French bought 2,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $23.79 per share, with a total value of $54,717.00. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman John W. Allison bought 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 26th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $25.46 per share, with a total value of $381,900.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman now owns 4,968,396 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $126,495,362.16. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 32,300 shares of company stock valued at $806,817. Insiders own 11.27% of the company’s stock.
Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HOMB. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund bought a new position in shares of Home BancShares during the second quarter worth $119,000. LS Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Home BancShares by 58.7% in the first quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $199,000 after buying an additional 2,725 shares in the last quarter. Piedmont Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Home BancShares during the first quarter worth $204,000. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Home BancShares by 6.5% in the first quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 7,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $213,000 after buying an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fortaleza Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Home BancShares by 84.7% in the second quarter. Fortaleza Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $216,000 after buying an additional 3,975 shares in the last quarter. 60.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
About Home BancShares
Home BancShares, Inc is a bank holding company. The Company is engaged in providing a range of commercial and retail banking, and related financial services to businesses, real estate developers and investors, individuals and municipalities through its community bank subsidiary, Centennial Bank (the Bank).
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