HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) Short Interest Up 11.9% in September

HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 71,500 shares, an increase of 11.9% from the September 15th total of 63,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 32,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days. Currently, 0.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Activity at HBT Financial

In other news, Director Patrick F. Busch sold 11,555 shares of HBT Financial stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.09, for a total value of $278,359.95. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 190,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,577,100. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 59.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HBT Financial

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cetera Advisors LLC acquired a new position in HBT Financial during the first quarter worth $6,497,000. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in HBT Financial by 1,082.5% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 113,808 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,324,000 after purchasing an additional 104,184 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 26,135 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in HBT Financial by 19.0% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 95,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,949,000 after purchasing an additional 15,242 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in HBT Financial by 109.9% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 27,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $562,000 after purchasing an additional 14,400 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HBT. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on HBT Financial from $21.50 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 price target (up previously from $25.00) on shares of HBT Financial in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. DA Davidson downgraded HBT Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $26.00 to $24.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of HBT Financial from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.60.

HBT Financial Price Performance

HBT stock traded up $0.27 on Tuesday, reaching $22.46. 25,692 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 28,327. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $21.70 and a 200-day moving average of $20.53. The firm has a market cap of $709.53 million, a PE ratio of 10.00 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. HBT Financial has a twelve month low of $17.69 and a twelve month high of $24.85.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.01. HBT Financial had a net margin of 25.61% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The business had revenue of $72.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $56.82 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.58 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that HBT Financial will post 2.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HBT Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were given a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. HBT Financial’s payout ratio is 33.63%.

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.