Empowered Funds LLC Buys 15,503 Shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. $HTH

Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) by 6.2% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 265,731 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,503 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Hilltop were worth $9,518,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hilltop during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Hilltop by 584.7% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 918 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in Hilltop by 37.3% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 313 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in Hilltop during the third quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 36.2% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,817 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 483 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Hilltop

In other Hilltop news, Director Rhodes R. Bobbitt sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.00, for a total transaction of $380,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 87,016 shares in the company, valued at $3,306,608. This represents a 10.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Keith E. Bornemann sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.00, for a total transaction of $76,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,912 shares in the company, valued at approximately $300,656. This represents a 20.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 32,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,206,000. 5.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HTH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Hilltop in a research note on Tuesday. Zacks Research upgraded Hilltop from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Hilltop from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.00.

Hilltop Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HTH opened at $39.36 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.45. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $29.20 and a 1 year high of $40.41. The company has a market capitalization of $2.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.58 and a beta of 0.88.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $315.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $306.18 million. Hilltop had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 10.17%.During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.57 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 2.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th will be given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 7th. This is an increase from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.63%.

About Hilltop

Hilltop Holdings, Inc (NYSE: HTH) is a Dallas, Texas–based financial holding company offering commercial banking, mortgage lending and capital markets services through its three primary subsidiaries: PlainsCapital Corporation, PrimeLending and HilltopSecurities. PlainsCapital provides deposit, lending and treasury management solutions to small and mid-sized businesses, professionals and individuals. PrimeLending specializes in home purchase and refinance loans, serving retail, wholesale and correspondent channels.