HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Still a Buy?

HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) shares saw strong trading volume on Wednesday . 38,507 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 14% from the previous session’s volume of 33,715 shares.The stock last traded at $26.95 and had previously closed at $26.99.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HBT has been the topic of several analyst reports. DA Davidson set a $27.00 target price on HBT Financial in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Raymond James Financial lowered HBT Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of HBT Financial in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on HBT Financial from $29.00 to $27.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, HBT Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.50.

HBT Financial Trading Up 0.4%

The firm has a market cap of $847.51 million, a P/E ratio of 10.87 and a beta of 0.60. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $24.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.97.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $59.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.31 million. HBT Financial had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 13.81%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.61 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that HBT Financial, Inc. will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HBT Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. HBT Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 33.87%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HBT Financial

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new position in shares of HBT Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of HBT Financial by 32.7% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of HBT Financial by 66.6% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in HBT Financial by 906.9% during 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. bought a new stake in HBT Financial in the second quarter worth $208,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.55% of the company’s stock.

About HBT Financial

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.