Heartland Bank & Trust Co Acquires 143,727 Shares of HBT Financial, Inc. $HBT

Heartland Bank & Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) by 857.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 160,487 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 143,727 shares during the quarter. HBT Financial makes up about 1.0% of Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in HBT Financial were worth $4,288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of HBT. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in HBT Financial in the first quarter worth $3,349,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its position in HBT Financial by 16.6% during the first quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 25,516 shares of the company’s stock worth $682,000 after buying an additional 3,640 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp bought a new position in HBT Financial during the first quarter valued at about $241,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in HBT Financial by 25.8% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 24,969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $674,000 after buying an additional 5,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP lifted its position in shares of HBT Financial by 70.1% in the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 28,991 shares of the company’s stock worth $749,000 after buying an additional 11,943 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on HBT shares. Piper Sandler upped their price target on HBT Financial from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on HBT Financial from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded HBT Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Zacks Research cut HBT Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded HBT Financial from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.25.

HBT Financial Stock Performance

Shares of HBT opened at $32.77 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a PE ratio of 15.03 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. HBT Financial, Inc. has a one year low of $22.36 and a one year high of $33.69. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $30.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.35.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $67.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.75 million. HBT Financial had a net margin of 22.72% and a return on equity of 13.06%. As a group, analysts expect that HBT Financial, Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

HBT Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. HBT Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HBT Financial news, Chairman Fred L. Drake sold 15,742 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.93, for a total value of $455,416.06. Following the sale, the chairman owned 45,815 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,325,427.95. This trade represents a 25.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 51.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

HBT Financial Company Profile

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.