American Century Companies Inc. Boosts Stake in HBT Financial, Inc. $HBT

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) by 15.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 219,619 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,892 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.70% of HBT Financial worth $5,537,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of HBT Financial by 32.7% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in HBT Financial during the second quarter worth about $208,000. Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new position in HBT Financial during the first quarter worth about $286,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in HBT Financial by 17.4% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 15,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $349,000 after buying an additional 2,307 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP lifted its position in shares of HBT Financial by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 18,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $411,000 after acquiring an additional 1,646 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HBT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James Financial cut HBT Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on HBT Financial from $29.00 to $27.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. DA Davidson set a $27.00 target price on HBT Financial in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of HBT Financial in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of HBT Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.50.

HBT Financial Stock Down 1.0%

HBT opened at $24.55 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. HBT Financial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.46 and a 52 week high of $27.02. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.86. The firm has a market cap of $771.66 million, a P/E ratio of 9.90 and a beta of 0.60.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 20th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.03. HBT Financial had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 13.81%. The firm had revenue of $59.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.31 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that HBT Financial, Inc. will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HBT Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. HBT Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.87%.

About HBT Financial

HBT Financial, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Heartland Bank and Trust Company that provides business, commercial, and retail banking products and services to individuals, businesses, and municipal entities in Central and Northeastern Illinois, and Eastern Iowa. The company's deposits accounts consist of noninterest-bearing demand deposits, interest-bearing transaction accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, certificates of deposits, health savings accounts, and individual retirement accounts.