American Century Companies Inc. Increases Position in HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT)

American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) by 5.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 119,698 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,859 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in HBT Financial were worth $2,444,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in HBT Financial during the first quarter worth $183,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in HBT Financial by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 626,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,930,000 after acquiring an additional 5,183 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC purchased a new position in HBT Financial during the 1st quarter valued at about $6,497,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in HBT Financial by 19.0% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 95,606 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,949,000 after acquiring an additional 15,242 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.55% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at HBT Financial

In other HBT Financial news, Director Patrick F. Busch sold 11,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.09, for a total transaction of $278,359.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 190,000 shares in the company, valued at $4,577,100. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 59.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of HBT Financial from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 target price (up previously from $25.00) on shares of HBT Financial in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. DA Davidson cut HBT Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $26.00 to $24.00 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on HBT Financial from $21.50 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.60.

HBT Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HBT opened at $21.63 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.32. HBT Financial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.42 and a 52 week high of $24.85. The company has a market cap of $683.31 million, a P/E ratio of 9.57 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 (NASDAQ:HBT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $72.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $56.82 million. HBT Financial had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 25.61%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.58 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that HBT Financial, Inc. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

HBT Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 6th. HBT Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.63%.

HBT Financial 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.