Home BancShares (NYSE:HOMB) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Home BancShares (NYSE:HOMB) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on HOMB. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $31.00 price objective on shares of Home BancShares in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $35.00 target price (up from $34.00) on shares of Home BancShares in a report on Friday, January 16th. Zacks Research upgraded Home BancShares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Home BancShares in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Home BancShares presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.60.

Home BancShares Stock Performance

HOMB opened at $28.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.35. Home BancShares has a 1 year low of $24.22 and a 1 year high of $31.27. The company has a market capitalization of $5.69 billion, a PE ratio of 12.01 and a beta of 0.78.

Home BancShares (NYSE:HOMB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 14th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60. The company had revenue of $282.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $272.48 million. Home BancShares had a return on equity of 11.16% and a net margin of 32.18%.The company’s revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Home BancShares will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Home BancShares

In other Home BancShares news, Director Donna Townsell sold 5,563 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.38, for a total transaction of $157,877.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 218,460 shares in the company, valued at $6,199,894.80. The trade was a 2.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 6.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Home BancShares

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Home BancShares by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,423,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $567,372,000 after purchasing an additional 621,751 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Home BancShares by 0.8% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,957,496 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $168,597,000 after buying an additional 45,848 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Home BancShares by 14.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Home BancShares by 0.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,572,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $130,151,000 after acquiring an additional 26,511 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Home BancShares during the second quarter worth about $64,545,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

About Home BancShares

Home BancShares, Inc is a bank holding company based in Conway, Arkansas, operating through its primary subsidiary, Home Bank, National Association. Founded in March 1999, the company provides a comprehensive suite of banking services to individuals, small and middle-market businesses, and public entities. These services encompass deposit accounts, consumer and commercial lending, mortgage origination and servicing, treasury management, and wealth management solutions.

The company’s core products include checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, and money market accounts, as well as a variety of loan offerings such as commercial real estate financing, equipment loans, agricultural lending, and residential mortgages.