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

Shares of HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $28.50.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of HBT Financial in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. 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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HBT. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in HBT Financial by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 99,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,508,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in HBT Financial by 4.4% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $316,000 after acquiring an additional 534 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in shares of HBT Financial by 3.5% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 17,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $452,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of HBT Financial by 6.6% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 16,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $407,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.55% of the company’s stock.

HBT Financial Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of HBT stock opened at $26.27 on Friday. HBT Financial has a twelve month low of $19.46 and a twelve month high of $29.88. The stock has a market cap of $825.67 million, a P/E ratio of 10.77 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $27.44 and a 200 day moving average of $25.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.64. The business had revenue of $61.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.00 million. HBT Financial had a return on equity of 13.69% and a net margin of 26.20%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that HBT Financial will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

HBT Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This is an increase from HBT Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. HBT Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 37.70%.

HBT Financial announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, December 18th that allows the company to repurchase $30.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 3.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.