HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) Short Interest Up 16.2% in November

HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 73,700 shares, an increase of 16.2% from the October 31st total of 63,400 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 29,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days. Currently, 0.6% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Fred L. Drake sold 4,798 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.92, for a total transaction of $114,768.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 86,672 shares in the company, valued at $2,073,194.24. This represents a 5.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 11,998 shares of company stock valued at $291,710 over the last 90 days. 59.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of HBT Financial

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new position in HBT Financial in the first quarter worth $6,497,000. LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of HBT Financial by 1,082.5% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 113,808 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,324,000 after acquiring an additional 104,184 shares during the period. Rosenthal Henry Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of HBT Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $930,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in HBT Financial by 6.9% in the second 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 period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in HBT Financial by 93.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 46,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,024,000 after purchasing an additional 22,618 shares in the last quarter. 78.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

HBT Financial Stock Down 1.1 %

HBT Financial stock traded down $0.27 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $23.76. The company had a trading volume of 1,859 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,674. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $22.63 and its 200-day moving average is $21.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $749.87 million, a P/E ratio of 10.92 and a beta of 0.87. HBT Financial has a fifty-two week low of $17.75 and a fifty-two week high of $25.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 24.68%. The firm had revenue of $56.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $57.05 million. On average, research analysts forecast that HBT Financial will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

HBT Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were given a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. HBT Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 34.55%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on HBT shares. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on HBT Financial from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. DA Davidson downgraded shares of HBT Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $26.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.40.

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.