Insider Selling: HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) Chairman Sells 10,000 Shares of Stock

HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) Chairman Fred L. Drake sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.38, for a total value of $243,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 58,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,430,374.60. This represents a 14.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

HBT Financial Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ HBT opened at $24.32 on Monday. HBT Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.75 and a 52-week high of $25.35. The stock has a market cap of $767.54 million, a PE ratio of 10.76 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The business has a fifty day moving average of $22.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.49.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.04. HBT Financial had a return on equity of 14.57% and a net margin of 24.99%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that HBT Financial, Inc. will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HBT Financial announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 18th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 2.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

HBT Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. 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. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.45%. HBT Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on HBT shares. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on HBT Financial from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on 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 given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, HBT Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.80.

Institutional Trading of HBT Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of HBT Financial by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 20,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $455,000 after buying an additional 1,711 shares in the last quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co increased its position in HBT Financial by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co now owns 91,770 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,010,000 after purchasing an additional 5,070 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in HBT Financial by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,309 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,000 after purchasing an additional 756 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in HBT Financial by 62.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 23,427 shares of the company’s stock worth $513,000 after purchasing an additional 8,969 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in HBT Financial by 43.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 57,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,247,000 after purchasing an additional 17,266 shares during the period. 78.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.