Janney Montgomery Scott Upgrades HomeStreet (NASDAQ:HMST) to Buy

HomeStreet (NASDAQ:HMST) was upgraded by stock analysts at Janney Montgomery Scott from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports.

Separately, Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of HomeStreet from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.25.

HomeStreet Price Performance

HMST stock opened at $12.56 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.49. HomeStreet has a 52-week low of $8.09 and a 52-week high of $16.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $237.65 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.64 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.09.

HomeStreet (NASDAQ:HMST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported ($0.27) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by ($0.05). HomeStreet had a negative return on equity of 4.23% and a negative net margin of 40.30%. Equities research analysts expect that HomeStreet will post 0.3 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HomeStreet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of HomeStreet by 494.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 670,926 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,574,000 after purchasing an additional 557,977 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in HomeStreet by 276.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 23,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $377,000 after acquiring an additional 17,578 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of HomeStreet in the 4th quarter worth about $214,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of HomeStreet by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 426,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,717,000 after purchasing an additional 7,898 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in HomeStreet by 113.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 23,814 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $375,000 after buying an additional 12,632 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.71% of the company’s stock.

About HomeStreet

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.