Legal & General Group Plc Purchases New Holdings in Home BancShares, Inc. $HOMB

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Home BancShares, Inc. (NYSE:HOMB) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 252,322 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,198,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.13% of Home BancShares as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of HOMB. Millennium Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Home BancShares in the fourth quarter valued at $1,450,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Home BancShares by 14.5% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 886,006 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,860,000 after buying an additional 111,888 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Home BancShares during the fourth quarter worth $66,673,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Home BancShares by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,588,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $155,242,000 after buying an additional 238,548 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Home BancShares by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,720,491 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $180,979,000 after buying an additional 559,603 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO John Stephen Tipton sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.59, for a total transaction of $379,080.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 76,308 shares in the company, valued at $2,410,569.72. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 6.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Home BancShares from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $32.00 target price (up from $29.00) on shares of Home BancShares in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $31.00 price target (up from $30.00) on shares of Home BancShares in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $36.00 price target (up from $33.00) on shares of Home BancShares in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Home BancShares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.83.

Home BancShares Stock Up 2.0%

NYSE HOMB opened at $29.69 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $5.94 billion, a PE ratio of 12.27 and a beta of 0.67. Home BancShares, Inc. has a one year low of $25.50 and a one year high of $31.70. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

Home BancShares (NYSE:HOMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $295.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $288.70 million. Home BancShares had a return on equity of 11.12% and a net margin of 32.10%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.58 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Home BancShares, Inc. will post 2.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Home BancShares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 12th were issued a $0.23 dividend. This is a positive change 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 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 12th. Home BancShares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.02%.

Home BancShares Company Profile

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.