First Trust Advisors LP Invests $422,000 in HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT)

First Trust Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of HBT Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 19,279 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $422,000. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.06% of HBT Financial as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its position in shares of HBT Financial by 47.7% during the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 1,335 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of HBT Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $57,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in HBT Financial by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,309 shares of the company's stock worth $138,000 after buying an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its stake in HBT Financial by 27.8% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 7,522 shares of the company's stock worth $165,000 after acquiring an additional 1,638 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. acquired a new position in HBT Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $242,000. Institutional investors own 78.55% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HBT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Hovde Group raised HBT Financial from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $28.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of HBT Financial from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, HBT Financial currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $25.80.

HBT Financial Price Performance

Shares of HBT stock traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $24.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,400 shares, compared to its average volume of 32,615. HBT Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.16 and a fifty-two week high of $26.25. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $22.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.20. 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 has a market capitalization of $763.91 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.66 and a beta of 0.60.

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.04. HBT Financial had a return on equity of 14.57% and a net margin of 24.99%. The business had revenue of $63.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $57.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.57 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that HBT Financial, Inc. will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

HBT Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 6th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. HBT Financial's payout ratio is currently 35.29%.

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.