Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Tuesday.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Raymond James raised Home Bancorp from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, October 21st. Hovde Group cut Home Bancorp from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and raised their price target for the company from $53.00 to $54.50 in a report on Tuesday, November 12th.

Home Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ:HBCP traded up $1.31 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $44.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,324 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,264. The company has a market capitalization of $358.57 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.84 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Home Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $33.30 and a fifty-two week high of $52.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $48.13 and a 200-day moving average of $44.59.

Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.21. Home Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.58% and a net margin of 18.55%. The business had revenue of $34.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.10 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Home Bancorp will post 4.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Home Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. This is a boost from Home Bancorp's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. Home Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.06%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of Home Bancorp by 73.8% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,377 shares of the bank's stock worth $106,000 after purchasing an additional 1,009 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Home Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at $110,000. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Home Bancorp by 287.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 9,142 shares of the bank's stock valued at $407,000 after purchasing an additional 6,785 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P grew its position in shares of Home Bancorp by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 14,172 shares of the bank's stock worth $632,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Home Bancorp by 136.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,668 shares of the bank's stock worth $654,000 after purchasing an additional 8,459 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.41% of the company's stock.

About Home Bancorp

Home Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Home Bank, National Association that provides various banking products and services in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. It offers deposit products, including interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing checking, money market, savings, NOW, and certificates of deposit accounts.