Insider Selling: HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) Chairman Sells $243,800.00 in Stock

HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) Chairman Fred L. Drake sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.38, for a total transaction of $243,800.00. Following 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

HBT Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ HBT opened at $24.32 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $767.54 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.76 and a beta of 0.88. HBT Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.75 and a 52-week high of $25.35.

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

HBT Financial declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 18th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 2.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

HBT Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.45%. This is an increase from HBT Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. HBT Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.63%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HBT Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in HBT Financial by 3.8% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 14,605 shares of the company’s stock worth $287,000 after buying an additional 541 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 756 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in HBT Financial by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 20,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $455,000 after buying an additional 1,711 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in HBT Financial by 70.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,000 after buying an additional 1,784 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 1,989 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on HBT. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of HBT Financial from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, HBT Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.80.

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.