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

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Home BancShares (NYSE:HOMB) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Sunday.

HOMB has been the subject of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Home BancShares in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Home BancShares in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $32.00 price target for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on 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, Piper Sandler set a $34.00 price target on Home BancShares and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.83.

Home BancShares Stock Down 0.1%

NYSE HOMB opened at $26.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company has a market capitalization of $5.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.51 and a beta of 0.78. Home BancShares has a one year low of $24.22 and a one year high of $32.90. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $28.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.46.

Home BancShares (NYSE:HOMB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $277.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $269.96 million. Home BancShares had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 31.20%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.50 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Home BancShares will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home BancShares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 12th. This is a positive change from Home BancShares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Home BancShares’s payout ratio is 36.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Home BancShares news, CEO John W. Allison sold 110,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.02, for a total value of $3,302,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Home BancShares

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HOMB. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Home BancShares during the second quarter valued at $64,545,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Home BancShares during the first quarter valued at $41,431,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Home BancShares by 14.7% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,876,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $138,772,000 after buying an additional 626,655 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Home BancShares during the second quarter valued at $12,931,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Home BancShares by 87.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 612,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,434,000 after buying an additional 286,073 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.