Stock Repurchase Plan Approved by HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) Board of Directors

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase 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 reacquire up to 2.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. DA Davidson downgraded 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 upped their price objective on HBT Financial from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on HBT Financial from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.40.

HBT Financial Stock Performance

Shares of HBT stock opened at $22.24 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.90. The company has a market capitalization of $701.87 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.11 and a beta of 0.87. 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.

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

HBT Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. HBT Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.55%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Fred L. Drake sold 4,798 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 86,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,073,194.24. This represents a 5.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold a total of 14,498 shares of company stock worth $351,985 in the last three months. 59.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.