Home BancShares (NYSE:HOMB) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Sell

Key Points

• Home BancShares was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "hold" to a "sell" rating, indicating a negative outlook on the stock.
• Despite the downgrade, Piper Sandler and other firms have increased their target prices for Home BancShares, reflecting mixed opinions among analysts about its future performance.
• The CEO of Home BancShares, John W. Allison, sold 110,000 shares of stock in August, reducing his ownership by 1.95%, which may raise concerns among investors about insider confidence.

Home BancShares (NYSE:HOMB - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a note issued to investors on Sunday.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Home BancShares from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Home BancShares in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Home BancShares in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $33.00.

Home BancShares Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HOMB opened at $26.66 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Home BancShares has a fifty-two week low of $24.22 and a fifty-two week high of $32.90. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.36. The company has a market cap of $5.25 billion, a PE ratio of 12.17 and a beta of 0.78.

Home BancShares (NYSE:HOMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58. Home BancShares had a net margin of 29.58% and a return on equity of 10.60%. The business had revenue of $271.03 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $262.56 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.52 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Home BancShares will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO John W. Allison sold 110,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.02, for a total value of $3,302,200.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 6.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Binnacle Investments Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Home BancShares by 76.7% in the second quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc now owns 1,329 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 577 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new stake in Home BancShares during the first quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in Home BancShares during the first quarter worth approximately $64,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Home BancShares by 60.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,632 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Home BancShares by 4,480.3% during the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,794 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 2,733 shares in the last quarter. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Home BancShares Company Profile

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.

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