Short Interest in HomeStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ:HMST) Decreases By 6.2%

HomeStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ:HMST) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 497,400 shares, a drop of 6.2% from the August 15th total of 530,200 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 144,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.4 days. Approximately 2.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Activity at HomeStreet

In related news, Director Paulette Lemon sold 2,401 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.59, for a total value of $37,431.59. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $263,829.57. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 4.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HomeStreet

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EMC Capital Management grew its stake in HomeStreet by 16.2% in the first quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 8,613 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $130,000 after acquiring an additional 1,201 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new stake in HomeStreet in the second quarter valued at approximately $122,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in HomeStreet by 23.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 14,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $164,000 after acquiring an additional 2,703 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in HomeStreet by 10.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,446 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $218,000 after acquiring an additional 1,354 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of HomeStreet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $151,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.71% of the company’s stock.

HomeStreet Trading Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ HMST traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $15.13. 893 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 205,743. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.78. HomeStreet has a 1-year low of $4.20 and a 1-year high of $16.10. The firm has a market cap of $285.32 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.16 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.06.

HomeStreet (NASDAQ:HMST) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The financial services provider reported ($0.23) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.01. HomeStreet had a negative return on equity of 1.87% and a negative net margin of 3.30%. The business had revenue of $114.35 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $43.33 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that HomeStreet will post -0.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HMST has been the subject of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on HomeStreet from $13.50 to $14.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded HomeStreet from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $13.50 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on HomeStreet in a research report on Saturday. They set a “sell” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.25.

HomeStreet Company Profile

HomeStreet, Inc operates as the bank holding company for HomeStreet Bank that provides commercial, mortgage, and consumer/retail banking services in the Western United States. The company offers personal and business checking, savings, interest-bearing negotiable order of withdrawal, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit; credit cards; insurance; and treasury management services.