Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) Short Interest Update

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 958,000 shares, a drop of 8.8% from the January 15th total of 1,050,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 353,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Hilltop Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of HTH traded down $0.37 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $31.54. 227,243 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 413,846. The company has a market cap of $2.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.13 and a beta of 1.14. Hilltop has a 1-year low of $26.67 and a 1-year high of $35.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $29.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.01.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.27. Hilltop had a net margin of 7.04% and a return on equity of 5.18%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Hilltop will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 13th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. This is a positive change from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 13th. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hilltop

In other Hilltop news, CAO Keith E. Bornemann sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total transaction of $80,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $291,968. This represents a 21.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 29.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hilltop

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HTH. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Hilltop by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,383,034 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $154,116,000 after buying an additional 32,605 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Hilltop by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,568,227 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $82,594,000 after buying an additional 107,348 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Hilltop by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,056,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,991,000 after buying an additional 17,477 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Hilltop by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 826,187 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,654,000 after purchasing an additional 32,127 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Hilltop by 85.4% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 797,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,846,000 after purchasing an additional 367,564 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on HTH shares. Raymond James lowered shares of Hilltop from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Hilltop from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.00.

About Hilltop

Hilltop Holdings Inc provides business and consumer banking services. It operates through three segments: Banking, Broker-Dealer, and Mortgage Origination. The Banking segment offers savings, checking, interest-bearing checking, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; lines and letters of credit, home improvement and equity loans, loans for purchasing and carrying securities, term, agricultural and commercial real estate, equipment loans, and other lending products; and mortgage, commercial and industrial loans, and term and construction finance.