HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 98,600 shares, an increase of 33.8% from the November 15th total of 73,700 shares. Approximately 0.8% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 31,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HBT Financial news, Chairman Fred L. Drake sold 2,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.86, for a total transaction of $52,492.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 91,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,182,474.20. This trade represents a 2.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 11,998 shares of company stock worth $291,710 over the last three months. 59.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of HBT Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted 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 valued at $8,298,000 after purchasing an additional 26,135 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $6,764,000 after buying an additional 1,989 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in HBT Financial by 1.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 251,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,501,000 after buying an additional 3,874 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in HBT Financial by 5.1% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 119,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,444,000 after acquiring an additional 5,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management grew its position in shares of HBT Financial by 1,082.5% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 113,808 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,324,000 after acquiring an additional 104,184 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on HBT shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of HBT Financial from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective 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. Finally, DA Davidson lowered HBT Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $26.00 to $24.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.40.

HBT Financial Stock Down 0.3 %

HBT traded down $0.06 during trading on Friday, hitting $23.45. The company had a trading volume of 14,987 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,094. The company has a market capitalization of $740.06 million, a PE ratio of 10.69 and a beta of 0.87. 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 has a one year low of $17.75 and a one year high of $25.35. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $23.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.78.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.03. HBT Financial had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 24.68%. The company had revenue of $56.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $57.05 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that HBT Financial will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. HBT Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.55%.

HBT Financial Company Profile

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.