Horizon Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBNC) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Sell”

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Horizon Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBNC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Thursday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Horizon Bancorp from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Hovde Group initiated coverage on shares of Horizon Bancorp in a research report on Monday, September 30th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $18.00 target price for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Horizon Bancorp from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Horizon Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.00.

Horizon Bancorp Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of HBNC stock opened at $15.91 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $15.46 and a 200-day moving average of $13.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. Horizon Bancorp has a 12-month low of $9.22 and a 12-month high of $16.64. The company has a market capitalization of $701.89 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.46 and a beta of 1.04.

Horizon Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.04. Horizon Bancorp had a net margin of 5.50% and a return on equity of 8.17%. The company had revenue of $102.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.23 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Horizon Bancorp will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Horizon Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. Horizon Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 118.52%.

Institutional Trading of Horizon Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HBNC. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Horizon Bancorp by 46.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC now owns 15,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $185,000 after purchasing an additional 4,943 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Horizon Bancorp by 88,223.7% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 67,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $861,000 after purchasing an additional 67,050 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Horizon Bancorp by 23.4% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 28,977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $372,000 after purchasing an additional 5,496 shares during the last quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Horizon Bancorp by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,623,174 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,825,000 after acquiring an additional 103,084 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in Horizon Bancorp by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 557,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,151,000 after acquiring an additional 34,958 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.51% of the company’s stock.

About Horizon Bancorp

Horizon Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Horizon Bank that engages in the provision of commercial and retail banking services. The company offers checking, saving, money market, certificate of deposits, individual retirement accounts, and time deposits, as well as non-interest- and interest-bearing demand deposits.