HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) Downgraded by Zacks Research to Hold

Zacks Research cut shares of HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on HBT Financial from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings lowered HBT Financial from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen raised HBT Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price target on HBT Financial from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, HBT Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.75.

HBT Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HBT opened at $28.17 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $27.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.53. HBT Financial has a 1 year low of $22.36 and a 1 year high of $29.88.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $67.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.75 million. HBT Financial had a return on equity of 13.06% and a net margin of 22.72%. Research analysts forecast that HBT Financial will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HBT Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. HBT Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling at HBT Financial

In other news, Chairman Fred L. Drake sold 15,742 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.93, for a total transaction of $455,416.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 51.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HBT Financial

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of HBT Financial by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 17,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $480,000 after acquiring an additional 1,254 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of HBT Financial by 36.0% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 23,675 shares of the company’s stock worth $633,000 after acquiring an additional 6,261 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of HBT Financial by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 561,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,995,000 after acquiring an additional 15,350 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of HBT Financial by 17.2% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 28,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $764,000 after acquiring an additional 4,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heartland Bank & Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of HBT Financial by 857.6% during the 1st quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co now owns 160,487 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,288,000 after acquiring an additional 143,727 shares in the last quarter. 78.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.