HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the seven analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $28.50.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson set a $27.00 price objective on HBT Financial in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of HBT Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of HBT Financial in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on HBT Financial from $29.00 to $27.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 21st.

HBT Financial Stock Performance

Shares of HBT stock opened at $26.79 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $24.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.05. HBT Financial has a 52 week low of $19.46 and a 52 week high of $27.85. The firm has a market cap of $842.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.03. HBT Financial had a return on equity of 13.81% and a net margin of 26.64%.The business had revenue of $59.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.31 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that HBT Financial will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

HBT Financial announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, December 18th that permits the company to buyback $30.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 3.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

HBT Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. HBT Financial’s payout ratio is currently 33.87%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HBT. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in shares of HBT Financial by 0.4% in the third quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 99,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,508,000 after buying an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of HBT Financial by 32.7% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of HBT Financial by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $316,000 after acquiring an additional 534 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of HBT Financial by 3.5% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 17,949 shares of the company’s stock worth $452,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of HBT Financial by 6.6% during the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 16,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $407,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003 shares in the last quarter. 78.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

HBT Financial Company Profile

HBT Financial, Inc is the bank holding company for HomeTrust Bank, a community-focused financial institution based in Lenoir, North Carolina. Through its subsidiary, HomeTrust Bank, the company provides a full suite of personal and business banking services across western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee and Upstate South Carolina. The company’s operations include a network of branch offices, ATMs and online banking platforms designed to serve both urban and rural communities in its primary market areas.

HomeTrust Bank’s product offerings encompass traditional deposit accounts such as checking, savings and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit.