Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) (NYSE:HOMB) Short Interest Down 11.1% in January

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) (NYSE:HOMB) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,400,000 shares, a drop of 11.1% from the January 15th total of 4,950,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,070,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.1 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO John W. Allison purchased 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $30.76 per share, for a total transaction of $307,600.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 5,693,182 shares in the company, valued at $175,122,278.32. This trade represents a 0.18 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 7.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HOMB. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) by 49.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 427 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) during the 3rd quarter valued at $187,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) by 41.6% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,797 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 528 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 315,379 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,544,000 after purchasing an additional 28,761 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 3,240,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $87,789,000 after purchasing an additional 28,604 shares during the last quarter. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on HOMB. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Hovde Group reduced their target price on shares of Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.00.

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) Stock Performance

Shares of Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) stock traded up $0.12 on Tuesday, reaching $30.09. The stock had a trading volume of 981,916 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,127,417. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $29.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.89. Home Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $22.38 and a fifty-two week high of $32.90. The stock has a market cap of $5.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.89 and a beta of 1.10.

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) (NYSE:HOMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.02). Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 27.39%. The firm had revenue of $258.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $256.67 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.43 earnings per share. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Home Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be paid a $0.195 dividend. This represents a $0.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 12th. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)’s payout ratio is 38.61%.

About Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)

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.