HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Zacks Research lowered HBT Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on HBT Financial from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on HBT Financial from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of HBT Financial from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of HBT Financial from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.25.

HBT Financial Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ HBT opened at $35.84 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.92. The company has a market capitalization of $1.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.38 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 has a 1 year low of $22.36 and a 1 year high of $36.83.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $80.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.36 million. HBT Financial had a return on equity of 14.03% and a net margin of 23.44%. On average, equities research analysts predict that HBT Financial will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current year.

HBT Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. This is an increase from HBT Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. HBT Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 39.48%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HBT Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its stake in shares of HBT Financial by 42.4% during the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 1,809 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 539 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in HBT Financial by 66.6% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,892 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,000 after acquiring an additional 1,556 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew 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 acquiring an additional 3,827 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in HBT Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $208,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp purchased a new stake in shares of HBT Financial in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $241,000. 78.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.