Horizon Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBNC) Sees Strong Trading Volume – Time to Buy?

Horizon Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBNC) shares saw strong trading volume on Friday . 126,211 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 21% from the previous session’s volume of 159,388 shares.The stock last traded at $15.84 and had previously closed at $15.87.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Horizon Bancorp from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Hovde Group initiated coverage on shares of Horizon Bancorp in a research note on Monday, September 30th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $18.00 price objective for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Horizon Bancorp from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Horizon Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.00.

Horizon Bancorp Trading Down 1.2 %

The company has a market capitalization of $691.74 million, a P/E ratio of 29.04 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $13.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Horizon Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBNC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $97.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.03 million. Horizon Bancorp had a net margin of 5.50% and a return on equity of 8.17%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Horizon Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Horizon Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 18th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. Horizon Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.52%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Horizon Bancorp

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Horizon Bancorp by 1,656.2% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 3,064 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Horizon Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at $80,000. EMC Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of Horizon Bancorp by 11.0% during the 1st quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 10,773 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $138,000 after acquiring an additional 1,064 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new stake in Horizon Bancorp during the second quarter valued at approximately $133,000. Finally, Elser Financial Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Horizon Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at $137,000. 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.