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

HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day 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.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HBT Financial

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HBT. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of HBT Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $63,321,000. Heartland Bank & Trust Co boosted its position in shares of HBT Financial by 857.6% during the first quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co now owns 160,487 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,288,000 after buying an additional 143,727 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of HBT Financial during the second quarter worth about $4,472,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in HBT Financial in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,349,000. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its position in HBT Financial by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 257,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,658,000 after buying an additional 87,085 shares during the last quarter. 78.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

HBT Financial Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.85 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

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

HBT Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 11th. This is a positive change from HBT Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. HBT Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.