HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) Hits New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after Hovde Group raised their price target on the stock from $40.00 to $44.00. Hovde Group currently has an outperform rating on the stock. HBT Financial traded as high as $36.91 and last traded at $36.76, with a volume of 20708 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.46.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on HBT. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on HBT Financial from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings raised HBT Financial from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Zacks Research downgraded HBT Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of HBT Financial from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on HBT Financial from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.40.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HBT. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in shares of HBT Financial by 42.4% during the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 1,809 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in HBT Financial by 66.6% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,000 after acquiring an additional 1,556 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in HBT Financial by 906.9% in the second 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 during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in HBT Financial in the second quarter worth about $208,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp bought a new stake in HBT Financial during the 1st quarter worth about $241,000. 78.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

HBT Financial Price Performance

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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.85 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.43.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $80.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.36 million. HBT Financial had a net margin of 23.44% and a return on equity of 14.03%. Sell-side analysts expect that HBT Financial, Inc. will post 3.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HBT Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. This is a boost from HBT Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. HBT Financial’s payout ratio is 42.92%.

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.