Magnetar Financial LLC Buys Shares of 16,669 Home BancShares, Inc. $HOMB

Key Points

• Magnetar Financial LLC made a new investment of approximately $471,000 in Home BancShares, Inc., acquiring 16,669 shares during the first quarter.
• Home BancShares has recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share, which equates to an annualized dividend of $0.80 and a yield of 2.7%.
• Despite positive earnings and revenue growth, Wall Street Zen downgraded HOMB shares from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating, reflecting mixed sentiments among analysts.

Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Home BancShares, Inc. (NYSE:HOMB - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 16,669 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $471,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Home BancShares during the 1st quarter worth $41,431,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Home BancShares by 1,545.1% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 393,171 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $11,127,000 after acquiring an additional 369,271 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Home BancShares by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,404,440 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $237,594,000 after acquiring an additional 196,563 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new stake in Home BancShares during the 1st quarter worth $2,638,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Home BancShares by 21.4% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 507,233 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $14,340,000 after acquiring an additional 89,332 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.31% of the company's stock.

Home BancShares Stock Down 0.1%

HOMB stock traded down $0.04 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $29.46. 688,294 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 750,303. The firm's 50 day moving average is $28.99 and its 200 day moving average is $28.39. Home BancShares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.22 and a twelve month high of $32.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a market cap of $5.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.45 and a beta of 0.81.

Home BancShares (NYSE:HOMB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58. Home BancShares had a return on equity of 10.60% and a net margin of 29.58%.The company had revenue of $271.03 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $262.56 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. Home BancShares's quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Home BancShares, Inc. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Home BancShares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 13th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 13th. Home BancShares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HOMB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Home BancShares from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Home BancShares from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Home BancShares from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $33.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO John W. Allison sold 110,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.02, for a total value of $3,302,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,540,776 shares in the company, valued at $166,334,095.52. This trade represents a 1.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO John Stephen Tipton sold 24,159 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.52, for a total value of $664,855.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 53,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,467,036.16. This represents a 31.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Home BancShares

Home Bancshares, Inc (Conway, AR) operates as the bank holding company for Centennial Bank that provides commercial and retail banking, and related financial services to businesses, real estate developers and investors, individuals, and municipalities. Its deposit products include checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit.