Horizon Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBNC) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Horizon Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBNC) saw a significant growth in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 721,800 shares, a growth of 22.9% from the December 31st total of 587,300 shares. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 166,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.3 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Horizon Bancorp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of Montreal Can acquired a new position in shares of Horizon Bancorp during the second quarter worth approximately $432,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Horizon Bancorp by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,053,625 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,387,000 after purchasing an additional 52,423 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Horizon Bancorp by 62.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 109,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,704,000 after buying an additional 42,218 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Horizon Bancorp by 37.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 106,609 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,658,000 after buying an additional 28,999 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Horizon Bancorp by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 25,996 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $399,000 after buying an additional 1,703 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Horizon Bancorp from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Horizon Bancorp from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Horizon Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st.

Horizon Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:HBNC opened at $16.84 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $736.24 million, a P/E ratio of 21.05 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. Horizon Bancorp has a 1 year low of $11.18 and a 1 year high of $19.18. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $16.80 and a 200-day moving average of $16.08.

Horizon Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.39 by ($0.03). Horizon Bancorp had a net margin of 9.86% and a return on equity of 8.48%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Horizon Bancorp will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Horizon Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.80%. Horizon Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.00%.

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.