Horizon Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBNC) Hits New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Shares of Horizon Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBNC) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $16.69 and last traded at $16.69, with a volume of 13902 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $16.19.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Horizon Bancorp Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. The firm has a market cap of $700.23 million, a P/E ratio of 34.09 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.88.

Horizon Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.04. Horizon Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.36% and a net margin of 5.89%. The firm had revenue of $102.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.23 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.37 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Horizon Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.41 EPS for the current year.

Horizon Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.00%. Horizon Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 136.17%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Horizon Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Horizon Bancorp by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,276,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,160,000 after acquiring an additional 135,217 shares during the last quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $20,825,000 after buying an additional 103,084 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Horizon Bancorp by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 557,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,151,000 after buying an additional 34,958 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Horizon Bancorp by 11.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 478,205 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,915,000 after buying an additional 50,666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Horizon Bancorp by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 341,317 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,222,000 after buying an additional 12,357 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.