HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson raised their target price on HBT Financial from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings raised HBT Financial from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Thursday. Zacks Research downgraded HBT Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on HBT Financial from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on HBT Financial from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.25.

HBT Financial Stock Performance

Shares of HBT Financial stock opened at $35.79 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market cap of $1.30 billion, a PE ratio of 15.36 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a 50 day moving average of $31.53 and a 200-day moving average of $29.00. HBT Financial has a 1-year low of $22.36 and a 1-year high of $36.83.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.05. HBT Financial had a net margin of 23.44% and a return on equity of 14.03%. The business had revenue of $80.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.36 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that HBT Financial will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HBT Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. This is a positive change from HBT Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. HBT Financial’s payout ratio is currently 39.48%.

Institutional Trading of HBT Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HBT. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $45,000 after buying an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in HBT Financial by 66.6% during the 3rd 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 grew its position in HBT Financial by 906.9% during the 2nd 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. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in HBT Financial in the 2nd quarter worth about $208,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp acquired a new position in HBT Financial in the 1st quarter worth about $241,000. Institutional investors 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.