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

HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $31.25.

HBT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded HBT Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday. Piper Sandler upped their price target on HBT Financial from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of HBT Financial from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of HBT Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of HBT Financial from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th.

Insider Activity

In other HBT Financial news, Chairman Fred L. Drake sold 15,742 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.93, for a total transaction of $455,416.06. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 45,815 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,325,427.95. This represents a 25.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 51.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in shares of HBT Financial by 42.4% in the 4th quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 1,809 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of HBT Financial by 66.6% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,892 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,000 after buying an additional 1,556 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in HBT Financial by 906.9% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,249 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,000 after purchasing an additional 3,827 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new stake in shares of HBT Financial in the second quarter worth approximately $208,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp purchased a new position in shares of HBT Financial during the first quarter valued at about $241,000. Institutional investors own 78.55% of the company’s stock.

HBT Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:HBT opened at $31.77 on Friday. HBT Financial has a 1 year low of $22.36 and a 1 year high of $33.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a PE ratio of 14.57 and a beta of 0.51. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.22.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.06. HBT Financial had a return on equity of 13.06% and a net margin of 22.72%.The business had revenue of $67.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.75 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that HBT Financial will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

HBT Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. HBT Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 42.20%.

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.