HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) Raises Dividend to $0.21 Per Share

HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be paid a dividend of 0.21 per share on Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 4th. This is a positive change from HBT Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19.

HBT Financial has increased its dividend by an average of 8.2% per year over the last three years. HBT Financial has a payout ratio of 34.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect HBT Financial to earn $2.15 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.76 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 35.3%.

HBT Financial Stock Performance

HBT traded up $0.21 during trading on Thursday, hitting $22.58. The stock had a trading volume of 10,788 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,690. The firm has a market capitalization of $712.47 million, a P/E ratio of 10.28 and a beta of 0.88. HBT Financial has a twelve month low of $17.75 and a twelve month high of $25.35. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $22.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.04. HBT Financial had a net margin of 24.68% and a return on equity of 14.70%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that HBT Financial will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HBT Financial news, Chairman Fred L. Drake sold 4,798 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.92, for a total value of $114,768.16. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 86,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,073,194.24. This trade represents a 5.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 14,498 shares of company stock valued at $351,985 over the last 90 days. 59.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on HBT. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of HBT Financial from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. DA Davidson downgraded shares of HBT Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $26.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of HBT Financial from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.40.

HBT Financial announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 18th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 2.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.