HomeTrust Bancshares (NYSE:HTB) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Zacks Research

HomeTrust Bancshares (NYSE:HTB) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on HTB. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of HomeTrust Bancshares from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of HomeTrust Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 4th. Finally, Hovde Group boosted their price objective on HomeTrust Bancshares from $46.50 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $47.00.

HomeTrust Bancshares Price Performance

HTB stock opened at $51.49 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $48.26. HomeTrust Bancshares has a one year low of $37.30 and a one year high of $51.90. The company has a market capitalization of $865.63 million, a PE ratio of 13.52 and a beta of 0.80.

HomeTrust Bancshares (NYSE:HTB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $54.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.22 million. HomeTrust Bancshares had a net margin of 22.50% and a return on equity of 10.90%. Research analysts anticipate that HomeTrust Bancshares will post 3.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at HomeTrust Bancshares

In other HomeTrust Bancshares news, EVP Kristin Y. Powell sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.78, for a total transaction of $46,780.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 21,595 shares in the company, valued at $1,010,214.10. This trade represents a 4.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Hunter Westbrook sold 31,022 shares of HomeTrust Bancshares stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.81, for a total value of $1,421,117.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 105,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,847,980.68. This represents a 22.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 61,000 shares of company stock worth $2,794,550 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HTB. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in HomeTrust Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth about $389,000. Flywheel Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of HomeTrust Bancshares in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $938,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of HomeTrust Bancshares during the 1st quarter worth approximately $105,000. CrossGen Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of HomeTrust Bancshares during the 1st quarter worth approximately $91,000. Finally, Rosenthal Henry Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in HomeTrust Bancshares in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,135,000. Institutional investors own 60.94% of the company’s stock.

About HomeTrust Bancshares

HomeTrust Bancshares, Inc is the bank holding company for HomeTrust Bank, a regional community bank that provides a range of commercial and consumer banking services. Through its subsidiary bank, the company offers traditional deposit and lending products, including checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential mortgages, home equity lending, and business loans. HomeTrust also delivers treasury management and payment services for small and midsize businesses, along with digital banking tools to support day-to-day account access and payments.

The company’s product set extends beyond core banking to include wealth management and trust services, commercial real estate financing, and specialized lending for agriculture and construction where relevant to local markets.