UPDATE: Wunderlich Downgrades Home Bancshares on Full Valuation Following Surge in Share Price

In a report published Friday, Wunderlich Securities analyst Kevin Reynolds downgraded the rating on Home Bancshares (NASDAQ: HOMB) from Buy to Hold, but reiterated the $30.00 price target.

In the report, Wunderlich Securities noted, “We are downgrading shares of Home BancShares (HOMB) to Hold from Buy as shares have recently exceeded our price target of $30. HOMB shares have increased over 40% in the past three months and over 80% year-to-date to a level that reflects a full valuation at 3.9x TBV/share and 17x our 2014 EPS estimate. In our opinion, current levels reflect the accretive impact of the highly accretive Liberty Bancshares acquisition (late October closing; early December conversion), but the integration of Liberty will likely keep HOMB on the M&A sidelines for the next several months. Although HOMB is one of the most efficient and best performing banks in our research universe, if not the entire U.S., we move to the sidelines while the company executes on its game-changing Liberty Bancshares acquisition.”

Home Bancshares closed on Thursday at $29.97.