HomeStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ:HMST) Short Interest Down 6.2% in August

HomeStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ:HMST) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 497,400 shares, a decrease of 6.2% from the August 15th total of 530,200 shares. Approximately 2.8% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 144,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.4 days.

HomeStreet Trading Down 1.6 %

HMST opened at $15.00 on Thursday. HomeStreet has a 1-year low of $4.20 and a 1-year high of $16.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.06. The company has a market cap of $282.87 million, a P/E ratio of -7.04 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $14.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.78.

HomeStreet (NASDAQ:HMST) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The financial services provider reported ($0.23) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $114.35 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.33 million. HomeStreet had a negative net margin of 3.30% and a negative return on equity of 1.87%. Analysts predict that HomeStreet will post -0.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Paulette Lemon sold 2,401 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.59, for a total value of $37,431.59. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $263,829.57. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 4.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HomeStreet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in HomeStreet by 113.6% during the second quarter. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 706,253 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,051,000 after purchasing an additional 375,581 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in HomeStreet by 4.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 640,296 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,299,000 after purchasing an additional 28,874 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in HomeStreet by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 586,929 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,045,000 after purchasing an additional 127,969 shares during the last quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp boosted its holdings in HomeStreet by 21.0% during the second quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 363,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,138,000 after purchasing an additional 63,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kennedy Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in HomeStreet during the first quarter worth about $3,720,000. 74.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HMST. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of HomeStreet in a report on Saturday, September 14th. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded shares of HomeStreet from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $13.50 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of HomeStreet from $13.50 to $14.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.25.

HomeStreet Company Profile

HomeStreet, Inc operates as the bank holding company for HomeStreet Bank that provides commercial, mortgage, and consumer/retail banking services in the Western United States. The company offers personal and business checking, savings, interest-bearing negotiable order of withdrawal, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit; credit cards; insurance; and treasury management services.