HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Should You Buy?

HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) saw unusually-high trading volume on Monday . Approximately 19,554 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 40% from the previous session’s volume of 32,495 shares.The stock last traded at $24.3730 and had previously closed at $24.19.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on HBT. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on HBT Financial from $29.00 to $27.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Raymond James Financial lowered HBT Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. DA Davidson set a $27.00 target price on HBT Financial in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Zacks Research raised shares of HBT Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of HBT Financial in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.50.

HBT Financial Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market cap of $758.72 million, a PE ratio of 9.73 and a beta of 0.60. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $24.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.86.

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

HBT Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. HBT Financial’s payout ratio is 33.87%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HBT. State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new stake in HBT Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of HBT Financial by 32.7% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of HBT Financial by 66.6% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 1,556 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 3,827 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new stake in HBT Financial during the 2nd quarter worth about $208,000. 78.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

HBT Financial Company Profile

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.