Short Interest in HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) Expands By 33.8%

HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) saw 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. Based on an average daily volume of 31,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days. Approximately 0.8% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Activity at HBT Financial

In other HBT Financial news, Chairman Fred L. Drake sold 4,798 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.92, for a total value of $114,768.16. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 86,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,073,194.24. This trade represents a 5.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 11,998 shares of company stock worth $291,710 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 59.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HBT Financial

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of HBT Financial by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 406,456 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,298,000 after acquiring an additional 26,135 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of HBT Financial by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 309,110 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,764,000 after purchasing an additional 1,989 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of HBT Financial by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 251,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,501,000 after purchasing an additional 3,874 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of HBT Financial by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 119,698 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,444,000 after purchasing an additional 5,859 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in HBT Financial by 1,082.5% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 113,808 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,324,000 after buying an additional 104,184 shares during the period. 78.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on HBT. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on HBT Financial from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of HBT Financial from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson cut shares of HBT Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $26.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, HBT Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.40.

HBT Financial Price Performance

HBT traded down $0.06 during trading on Friday, reaching $23.45. 23,061 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 29,094. HBT Financial has a 12-month low of $17.75 and a 12-month high of $25.35. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.82. 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 company has a market cap of $740.06 million, a P/E ratio of 10.66 and a beta of 0.87.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.03. HBT Financial had a net margin of 24.68% and a return on equity of 14.70%. The company had revenue of $56.44 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $57.05 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that HBT Financial will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

HBT Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. HBT Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.