HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $29.00.

HBT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of HBT Financial from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Raymond James Financial upgraded HBT Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded HBT Financial from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd.

Institutional Trading of HBT Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HBT. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in HBT Financial by 17.4% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 15,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $349,000 after purchasing an additional 2,307 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in shares of HBT Financial in the first quarter valued at approximately $286,000. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in shares of HBT Financial in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $208,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in HBT Financial by 15.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 219,619 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after acquiring an additional 29,892 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System acquired a new stake in HBT Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $223,000. Institutional investors own 78.55% of the company’s stock.

HBT Financial Stock Down 1.4%

HBT opened at $26.72 on Wednesday. HBT Financial has a 1-year low of $19.46 and a 1-year high of $29.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $839.81 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.95 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a 50 day moving average of $27.44 and a 200-day moving average of $25.93.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.64. HBT Financial had a net margin of 26.20% and a return on equity of 13.50%. The firm had revenue of $61.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.00 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that HBT Financial will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

HBT Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. This is an increase from HBT Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. HBT Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.70%.

HBT Financial declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, December 18th that allows the company to repurchase $30.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 3.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

About HBT Financial

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.