Bessemer Group Inc. Sells 15,821 Shares of Home BancShares, Inc. $HOMB

Bessemer Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Home BancShares, Inc. (NYSE:HOMB) by 44.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 15,821 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Home BancShares were worth $563,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Home BancShares by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,404,440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $237,594,000 after purchasing an additional 196,563 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Home BancShares by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,242,307 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,390,000 after purchasing an additional 75,463 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Home BancShares during the 1st quarter valued at about $41,431,000. Royce & Associates LP raised its holdings in Home BancShares by 0.5% in the first quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,123,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,769,000 after buying an additional 5,239 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Home BancShares by 1.4% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 990,030 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,830,000 after buying an additional 13,813 shares in the last quarter. 67.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Home BancShares news, CEO John W. Allison sold 110,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.02, for a total transaction of $3,302,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,540,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $166,334,095.52. This represents a 1.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Home BancShares Stock Performance

HOMB stock opened at $26.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. Home BancShares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.22 and a 1 year high of $32.90. The company has a market cap of $5.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.51 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $28.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.45.

Home BancShares (NYSE:HOMB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $277.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $269.96 million. Home BancShares had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 31.20%.Home BancShares’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Home BancShares, Inc. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Home BancShares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. This is a positive change from Home BancShares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 12th. Home BancShares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.48%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on HOMB shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Home BancShares from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Piper Sandler set a $34.00 target price on Home BancShares and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Wall Street Zen cut Home BancShares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on Home BancShares in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $32.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Home BancShares in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.83.

Home BancShares Profile

Home Bancshares, Inc (Conway, AR) operates as the bank holding company for Centennial Bank that provides commercial and retail banking, and related financial services to businesses, real estate developers and investors, individuals, and municipalities. Its deposit products include checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit.