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

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

HBT Financial Stock Performance

HBT opened at $22.24 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $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. The stock has a market cap of $701.87 million, a PE ratio of 10.11 and a beta of 0.87. HBT Financial has a 1 year low of $17.75 and a 1 year high of $25.35.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.03. HBT Financial had a net margin of 24.68% and a return on equity of 14.70%. The firm had revenue of $56.44 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $57.05 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that HBT Financial will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

HBT Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. HBT Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.55%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on HBT. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of HBT Financial from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of HBT Financial from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson downgraded shares of HBT Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $26.00 to $24.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HBT Financial news, Chairman Fred L. Drake sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.89, for a total value of $124,450.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 73,670 shares in the company, valued at $1,833,646.30. The trade was a 6.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 14,498 shares of company stock worth $351,985 in the last 90 days. 59.80% of the stock is owned by company 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.