HomeTrust Bancshares (NYSE:HTB) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

HomeTrust Bancshares (NYSE:HTB) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Stephens lifted their price target on shares of HomeTrust Bancshares from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Raymond James Financial raised shares of HomeTrust Bancshares to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of HomeTrust Bancshares from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Zacks Research lowered shares of HomeTrust Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of HomeTrust Bancshares in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.00.

HomeTrust Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of HTB stock opened at $45.73 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $763.30 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.00 and a beta of 0.81. HomeTrust Bancshares has a 12 month low of $38.30 and a 12 month high of $52.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $47.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.07.

HomeTrust Bancshares (NYSE:HTB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.05. HomeTrust Bancshares had a net margin of 22.50% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The company had revenue of $54.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.22 million. Research analysts expect that HomeTrust Bancshares will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at HomeTrust Bancshares

In related news, Director Laura Kendall sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.13, for a total value of $511,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 24,229 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,238,828.77. This represents a 29.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 11.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HomeTrust Bancshares

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in HomeTrust Bancshares during the second quarter worth about $83,715,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of HomeTrust Bancshares during the 1st quarter worth about $35,667,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of HomeTrust Bancshares during the 1st quarter worth about $19,884,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of HomeTrust Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth about $4,099,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of HomeTrust Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,647,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.94% of the company’s stock.

About HomeTrust Bancshares

HomeTrust Bancshares, Inc is the holding company for HomeTrust Bank, a community-focused financial institution headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina. Founded in 1926 as Asheville Savings Bank, the company adopted the HomeTrust name as it expanded beyond its original market and became a publicly traded company in 2012.

HomeTrust Bank provides a range of banking services for individuals, businesses and institutions. Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential and commercial real estate loans, consumer lending, commercial and industrial financing, and other deposit and credit products.