HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the seven research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment 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 issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $28.50.

Several research firms recently weighed in on HBT. Raymond James Financial raised HBT Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of HBT Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd.

HBT Financial Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:HBT opened at $25.93 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.90. HBT Financial has a 52 week low of $19.46 and a 52 week high of $29.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap of $815.03 million, a PE ratio of 10.63 and a beta of 0.57.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.64. The company 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 13.50%. As a group, research analysts expect that HBT Financial will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

HBT Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. This is a positive change from HBT Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. HBT Financial’s payout ratio is currently 37.70%.

HBT Financial announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 18th that authorizes the company to buyback $30.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 3.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HBT. State of Alaska Department of Revenue purchased a new stake in HBT Financial in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of HBT Financial by 59.8% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 1,098 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake 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 worth $98,000 after acquiring an additional 1,556 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,827 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in shares of HBT Financial in the second quarter worth $208,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.55% of the company’s stock.

About HBT Financial

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.