Fred L. Drake Sells 5,000 Shares of HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) Stock

HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) Chairman Fred L. Drake sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.89, for a total value of $124,450.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 73,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,833,646.30. This represents a 6.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

HBT Financial Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ HBT opened at $23.94 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $755.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.88 and a beta of 0.86. HBT Financial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.75 and a 52 week high of $25.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $22.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $56.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $57.05 million. HBT Financial had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 24.68%. Equities research analysts anticipate that HBT Financial, Inc. will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HBT Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were given a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.17%. HBT Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.55%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HBT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of HBT Financial by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 626,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,930,000 after acquiring an additional 5,183 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in HBT Financial by 6.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 406,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,298,000 after buying an additional 26,135 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of HBT Financial during the 1st quarter worth about $6,497,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of HBT Financial by 0.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 309,110 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,764,000 after acquiring an additional 1,989 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in HBT Financial by 1.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 251,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,501,000 after purchasing an additional 3,874 shares during the period. 78.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on HBT shares. DA Davidson downgraded shares of HBT Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $26.00 to $24.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on HBT Financial from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.40.

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.