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

Shares of HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $28.50.

Several brokerages have issued reports on HBT. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on HBT Financial from $29.00 to $27.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of HBT Financial in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. DA Davidson set a $27.00 price objective on HBT Financial in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded HBT Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th.

HBT Financial Trading Down 1.6%

HBT stock opened at $29.03 on Tuesday. HBT Financial has a twelve month low of $19.46 and a twelve month high of $29.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $912.41 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.90 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.49.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64. The firm had revenue of $61.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.00 million. HBT Financial had a net margin of 26.20% and a return on equity of 13.69%. As a group, analysts anticipate that HBT Financial will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

HBT Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be given a $0.23 dividend. This is a positive change from HBT Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 9th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. HBT Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.43%.

HBT Financial declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, December 18th that authorizes the company to repurchase $30.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 3.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of HBT Financial

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased 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 worth $349,000 after purchasing an additional 2,307 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of HBT Financial during the first quarter valued at $286,000. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in shares of HBT Financial by 1.0% in the second quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 99,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,499,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of HBT Financial by 32.7% in the second 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. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in HBT Financial by 57.7% in the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 58,517 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,475,000 after acquiring an additional 21,410 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.