Banc Funds Co. LLC Sells 54,549 Shares of HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT)

Banc Funds Co. LLC trimmed its stake in HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT) by 42.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72,544 shares of the company’s stock after selling 54,549 shares during the quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC owned 0.23% of HBT Financial worth $1,587,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of HBT. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in HBT Financial by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 14,605 shares of the company’s stock worth $287,000 after purchasing an additional 541 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in HBT Financial by 70.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,000 after buying an additional 1,784 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of HBT Financial by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 626,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,930,000 after buying an additional 5,183 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HBT Financial during the third quarter valued at approximately $122,000. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P increased its position in shares of HBT Financial by 23.2% during the third quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 29,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $650,000 after acquiring an additional 5,600 shares in the last quarter. 78.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Fred L. Drake sold 4,798 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.92, for a total transaction of $114,768.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 86,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,073,194.24. The trade was a 5.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 11,998 shares of company stock valued at $291,710 in the last quarter. 59.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HBT has been the topic of several analyst reports. DA Davidson cut HBT Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $26.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. 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. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.40.

HBT Financial Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of HBT Financial stock opened at $23.95 on Monday. HBT Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.75 and a twelve month high of $25.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company’s 50 day moving average is $22.63 and its 200 day moving average is $21.54. The company has a market cap of $755.84 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.89 and a beta of 0.86.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $57.05 million. Research analysts anticipate that HBT Financial, Inc. will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

HBT Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. 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 3.17%. HBT Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.55%.

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.