Short Interest in Home Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBCP) Increases By 41.2%

Home Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBCP - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 52,100 shares, an increase of 41.2% from the May 15th total of 36,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 31,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.7 days. Approximately 0.8% of the company's stock are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO David T. Kirkley sold 2,284 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.53, for a total value of $110,842.52. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 3,633 shares in the company, valued at approximately $176,309.49. This trade represents a 38.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Daniel G. Guidry sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.94, for a total transaction of $101,880.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 64,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,301,879.86. The trade was a 2.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,784 shares of company stock worth $238,923 in the last quarter. 7.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Home Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in Home Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth $502,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Home Bancorp by 1.1% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 52,952 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,371,000 after buying an additional 569 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Home Bancorp during the first quarter worth about $612,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Home Bancorp by 7.3% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 33,749 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,512,000 after buying an additional 2,301 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Home Bancorp by 0.3% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 111,742 shares of the bank's stock worth $5,006,000 after buying an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Home Bancorp from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Hovde Group upped their price target on Home Bancorp from $48.50 to $51.50 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Home Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th.

Home Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of HBCP stock traded up $0.96 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $49.32. 98,627 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,890. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $48.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. Home Bancorp has a 12-month low of $37.02 and a 12-month high of $52.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $384.70 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.32 and a beta of 0.57.

Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.23. Home Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 18.82%. The firm had revenue of $35.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.90 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.14 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Home Bancorp will post 4.78 EPS for the current year.

Home Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%. Home Bancorp's payout ratio is 22.59%.

About Home Bancorp

Home Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Home Bank, National Association that provides various banking products and services in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. It offers deposit products, including interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing checking, money market, savings, NOW, and certificates of deposit accounts.