Home Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBCP) Short Interest Up 12.2% in August

Home Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBCP) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 56,000 shares, an increase of 12.2% from the August 15th total of 49,900 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 18,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days. Approximately 0.8% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Home Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of HBCP opened at $44.20 on Wednesday. Home Bancorp has a 52-week low of $31.47 and a 52-week high of $45.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market cap of $359.26 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.32 and a beta of 0.69. The business’s 50 day moving average is $42.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.55.

Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The bank reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $49.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.90 million. Home Bancorp had a net margin of 19.16% and a return on equity of 9.98%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. Analysts forecast that Home Bancorp will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. Home Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 21.10%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Hovde Group upped their target price on shares of Home Bancorp from $45.00 to $48.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Daniel G. Guidry sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.48, for a total value of $207,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 66,819 shares in the company, valued at $2,771,652.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 7.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HBCP. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Home Bancorp by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 26,509 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,016,000 after acquiring an additional 1,925 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Home Bancorp by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 35,951 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,438,000 after buying an additional 2,672 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Home Bancorp by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 365,043 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,985,000 after buying an additional 3,414 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. boosted its holdings in shares of Home Bancorp by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 32,151 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,183,000 after buying an additional 3,454 shares during the period. Finally, Kennedy Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Home Bancorp by 29.3% during the 1st quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 22,832 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $875,000 after buying an additional 5,177 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.41% of the company’s stock.

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.