Cantor Fitzgerald Initiates Coverage on Home BancShares (NYSE:HOMB)

Key Points

• Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald have initiated coverage on Home BancShares with a "neutral" rating and a price target of $32.00, suggesting a potential upside of 8.46% from its current stock price.
• The company has reported a 6.5% year-over-year increase in revenue for its last quarter, with earnings per share matching analyst estimates at $0.58.
• Recent insider trading included CEO John W. Allison selling 110,000 shares, resulting in a 1.95% decrease in his ownership of Home BancShares stock.

Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Home BancShares (NYSE:HOMB - Free Report) in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued a neutral rating and a $32.00 price objective on the financial services provider's stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Home BancShares from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Home BancShares from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Home BancShares from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $33.00.

Home BancShares Stock Down 1.2%

Home BancShares stock traded down $0.37 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $29.50. 540,512 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,001,084. Home BancShares has a 1 year low of $24.22 and a 1 year high of $32.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $5.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.47 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $29.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.38.

Home BancShares (NYSE:HOMB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $262.56 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Home BancShares will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Home BancShares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th were 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 was Wednesday, August 13th. Home BancShares's payout ratio is 36.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Home BancShares

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Home BancShares by 28.3% during the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 29,503 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $835,000 after acquiring an additional 6,503 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in Home BancShares by 45.1% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 158,189 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,477,000 after purchasing an additional 49,140 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Home BancShares during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,057,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Home BancShares by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 106,099 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,003,000 after purchasing an additional 2,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp bought a new stake in shares of Home BancShares during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $365,000. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.