Brokerages Set HomeTrust Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:HTB) Price Target at $52.00

Shares of HomeTrust Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:HTB) have received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the five brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $52.00.

HTB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens lifted their price objective on HomeTrust Bancshares from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of HomeTrust Bancshares from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating on shares of HomeTrust Bancshares in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of HomeTrust Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Laura C. Kendall sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.13, for a total value of $511,300.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 24,229 shares in the company, valued at $1,238,828.77. The trade was a 29.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of HomeTrust Bancshares

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp acquired a new stake in HomeTrust Bancshares in the 1st quarter valued at $1,998,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL bought a new position in shares of HomeTrust Bancshares in the first quarter valued at $866,000. Goepper Burkhardt LLC acquired a new position in shares of HomeTrust Bancshares during the first quarter valued at about $1,220,000. First Trust Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of HomeTrust Bancshares during the first quarter valued at about $1,821,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of HomeTrust Bancshares during the first quarter worth about $2,926,000. 60.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

HomeTrust Bancshares Stock Performance

NYSE HTB opened at $46.43 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $774.93 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.19 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. HomeTrust Bancshares has a twelve month low of $38.30 and a twelve month high of $52.50. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.24.

HomeTrust Bancshares (NYSE:HTB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.05. HomeTrust Bancshares had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 22.50%.The firm had revenue of $54.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.22 million. Sell-side analysts expect that HomeTrust Bancshares will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

HomeTrust Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 13th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 13th. HomeTrust Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.75%.

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.