Home BancShares (NYSE:HOMB) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Home BancShares, Inc. (NYSE:HOMB)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $31.70 and last traded at $31.39, with a volume of 1864052 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $31.48.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Home BancShares from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Home BancShares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Home BancShares in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Home BancShares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Finally, Benchmark started coverage on shares of Home BancShares in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.67.

Home BancShares Trading Down 0.3%

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $28.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market cap of $6.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.97 and a beta of 0.68.

Home BancShares (NYSE:HOMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.02. Home BancShares had a net margin of 32.10% and a return on equity of 11.25%. The company had revenue of $295.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $288.70 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.58 EPS. Home BancShares’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Home BancShares, Inc. will post 2.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Home BancShares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th will be issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 12th. This is an increase from Home BancShares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Home BancShares’s dividend payout ratio is 34.71%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HOMB. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Home BancShares in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $66,673,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Home BancShares by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,060,888 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $85,031,000 after acquiring an additional 830,823 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Home BancShares by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,423,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $567,372,000 after acquiring an additional 621,751 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Home BancShares by 9.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,720,491 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $180,979,000 after purchasing an additional 559,603 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Home BancShares by 82.9% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,120,706 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,716,000 after buying an additional 508,127 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.