HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the seven analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $28.50.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on HBT shares. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of HBT Financial from $29.00 to $27.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of HBT Financial in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. DA Davidson set a $27.00 price objective on HBT Financial in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised 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

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of HBT Financial by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 523,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,198,000 after purchasing an additional 12,846 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of HBT Financial by 15.8% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 219,619 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,537,000 after buying an additional 29,892 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in HBT Financial by 1.9% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 113,115 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,847,000 after acquiring an additional 2,153 shares during the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in HBT Financial by 2.7% during the third quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 109,891 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,769,000 after acquiring an additional 2,887 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 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 worth $2,508,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.55% of the company’s stock.

HBT Financial Stock Performance

Shares of HBT stock opened at $28.56 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $25.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market cap of $897.64 million, a PE ratio of 11.52 and a beta of 0.58. HBT Financial has a 1 year low of $19.46 and a 1 year high of $29.22.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.03. HBT Financial had a return on equity of 13.81% and a net margin of 26.64%.The business had revenue of $59.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.61 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that HBT Financial will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

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.