Home Bancorp (HBCP) Could Be a Great Choice

All investors love getting big returns from their portfolio, whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities. But for income investors, generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments is your primary focus.While cash flow can come from bond interest or interest from other types of investments, income investors hone in on dividends. A dividend is that coveted distribution of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders, and investors often view it by its dividend yield, a metric that measures the dividend as a percent of the current stock price. Many academic studies show that dividends make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.Home Bancorp in FocusHeadquartered in Lafayette, Home Bancorp (HBCP) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of -8.87% so far this year. The financial holding company is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.27 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.56%. This compares to the Banks - Southeast industry's yield of 2.36% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.73%.Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.08 is up 6.9% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Home Bancorp has increased its dividend 3 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 3.74%. Future dividend growth will depend on earnings growth as well as payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Home Bancorp's current payout ratio is 23%. This means it paid out 23% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.Earnings growth looks solid for HBCP for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 is $4.77 per share, with earnings expected to increase 4.61% from the year ago period.Bottom LineInvestors like dividends for a variety of different reasons, from tax advantages and decreasing overall portfolio risk to considerably improving stock investing profits. But, not every company offers a quarterly payout.Big, established firms that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options, but it's fairly uncommon to see high-growth businesses or tech start-ups offer their stockholders a dividend. Income investors must be conscious of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. With that in mind, HBCP is a compelling investment opportunity. Not only is it a strong dividend play, but the stock currently sits at a Zacks Rank of 3 (Hold).Zacks' Research Chief Names "Stock Most Likely to Double"Our team of experts has just released the 5 stocks with the greatest probability of gaining +100% or more in the coming months. Of those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian highlights the one stock set to climb highest.This top pick is among the most innovative financial firms. With a fast-growing customer base (already 50+ million) and a diverse set of cutting edge solutions, this stock is poised for big gains. Of course, all our elite picks aren’t winners but this one could far surpass earlier Zacks’ Stocks Set to Double like Nano-X Imaging which shot up +129.6% in little more than 9 months.Free: See Our Top Stock And 4 Runners UpWant the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Home Bancorp, Inc. (HBCP): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks