Home BancShares, Inc. (NYSE:HOMB) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Home BancShares, Inc. (NYSE:HOMB - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the five analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $32.40.

A number of brokerages recently commented on HOMB. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Home BancShares from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $33.00 price target on shares of Home BancShares in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Home BancShares from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st.

Home BancShares Trading Down 1.3%

HOMB traded down $0.38 on Friday, reaching $29.37. 918,865 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,012,549. Home BancShares has a one year low of $24.22 and a one year high of $32.91. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.54. The company has a market cap of $5.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.99 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Home BancShares (NYSE:HOMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $260.08 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $255.20 million. Home BancShares had a net margin of 28.44% and a return on equity of 10.49%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Home BancShares will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Home BancShares Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. This is an increase from Home BancShares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 14th. Home BancShares's dividend payout ratio is presently 38.10%.

Insider Transactions at Home BancShares

In other Home BancShares news, CEO John Stephen Tipton sold 24,159 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 53,308 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,467,036.16. The trade was a 31.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Kevin Hester sold 7,128 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.67, for a total value of $204,359.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 124,912 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,581,227.04. The trade was a 5.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,787 shares of company stock worth $937,840 over the last quarter. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Home BancShares during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new stake in Home BancShares in the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Home BancShares by 48.2% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,630 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in Home BancShares in the 1st quarter valued at about $64,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Home BancShares by 60.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,632 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 995 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.31% of the company's stock.

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.