HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) Chairman Fred L. Drake Sells 10,000 Shares of Stock

HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) Chairman Fred L. Drake sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.38, for a total transaction of $243,800.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 58,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,430,374.60. This trade represents a 14.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

HBT Financial Price Performance

HBT stock opened at $24.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. HBT Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.75 and a 1 year high of $25.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $22.85 and a 200 day moving average of $22.48. The company has a market cap of $767.54 million, a P/E ratio of 10.76 and a beta of 0.88.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.04. HBT Financial had a return on equity of 14.57% and a net margin of 24.99%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that HBT Financial, Inc. will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

HBT Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.45%. This is a positive change from HBT Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. HBT Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.63%.

HBT Financial announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 18th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 2.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in HBT Financial by 6.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 406,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,298,000 after purchasing an additional 26,135 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of HBT Financial by 109.9% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 27,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $562,000 after purchasing an additional 14,400 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in shares of HBT Financial by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 14,605 shares of the company’s stock worth $287,000 after buying an additional 541 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in HBT Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $122,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in HBT Financial by 93.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 46,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,024,000 after buying an additional 22,618 shares during the last quarter. 78.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on HBT. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on HBT Financial from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on HBT Financial from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.80.

About HBT Financial

HBT Financial, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Heartland Bank and Trust Company that provides business, commercial, and retail banking products and services to individuals, businesses, and municipal entities in Central and Northeastern Illinois, and Eastern Iowa. The company's deposits accounts consist of noninterest-bearing demand deposits, interest-bearing transaction accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, certificates of deposits, health savings accounts, and individual retirement accounts.