HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on HBT. Weiss Ratings raised shares of HBT Financial from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday. Raymond James Financial raised shares of HBT Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of HBT Financial from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, HBT Financial has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.00.

HBT Financial Price Performance

HBT Financial stock opened at $27.86 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.20. The company has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.42 and a beta of 0.56. HBT Financial has a 1 year low of $22.36 and a 1 year high of $29.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.00 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that HBT Financial will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

HBT Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is a boost from HBT Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. HBT Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.70%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in HBT Financial by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 19,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $518,000 after acquiring an additional 3,136 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP grew its holdings in HBT Financial by 70.1% during the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 28,991 shares of the company’s stock worth $749,000 after acquiring an additional 11,943 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its holdings in HBT Financial by 51.1% during the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 257,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,658,000 after acquiring an additional 87,085 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in HBT Financial by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 56,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,456,000 after acquiring an additional 1,732 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in HBT Financial by 315.1% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 36,449 shares of the company’s stock worth $942,000 after acquiring an additional 27,669 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.55% of the company’s stock.

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.