HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) Board of Directors Authorizes Share Buyback Program

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 18th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $15.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 2.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

HBT Financial Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ HBT opened at $22.04 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $23.17 and a 200-day moving average of $21.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. HBT Financial has a 1-year low of $17.75 and a 1-year high of $25.35. The firm has a market cap of $695.56 million, a PE ratio of 10.02 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $56.44 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $57.05 million. HBT Financial had a net margin of 24.68% and a return on equity of 14.70%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that HBT Financial will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

HBT Financial Dividend Announcement

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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.45%. HBT Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HBT. DA Davidson lowered shares of HBT Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $26.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on HBT Financial from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on HBT Financial from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.40.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Fred L. Drake sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.89, for a total transaction of $124,450.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 73,670 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,833,646.30. The trade was a 6.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 14,498 shares of company stock valued at $351,985. Company insiders own 59.80% of the company’s stock.

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.