HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Here’s What Happened

Shares of HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) saw an uptick in trading volume on Monday . 434,871 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 1,116% from the previous session’s volume of 35,771 shares.The stock last traded at $25.70 and had previously closed at $26.27.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HBT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of HBT Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of HBT Financial in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.50.

HBT Financial Stock Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $27.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market cap of $803.09 million, a P/E ratio of 10.40 and a beta of 0.57.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.64. The firm had revenue of $61.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.00 million. HBT Financial had a net margin of 26.20% and a return on equity of 13.69%. On average, equities analysts expect that HBT Financial, Inc. will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

HBT Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. 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. HBT Financial’s payout ratio is currently 37.70%.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HBT. State of Alaska Department of Revenue purchased a new position in HBT Financial during the third quarter worth about $32,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of HBT Financial by 59.8% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 1,098 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted 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 last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new position in HBT Financial in the second quarter worth $208,000. 78.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.