Steve Thompson Sells 9,025 Shares of Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) Stock

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) CEO Steve Thompson sold 9,025 shares of Hilltop stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.84, for a total transaction of $359,556.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 91,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,657,989.28. The trade was a 8.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Hilltop Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:HTH opened at $39.70 on Wednesday. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.35 and a 12 month high of $40.41. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $35.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.03. The company has a market cap of $2.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.98 and a beta of 0.94.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $217.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $300.15 million. Hilltop had a return on equity of 7.47% and a net margin of 10.19%.During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.51 EPS for the current year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This is a boost from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio is 27.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Stephens upped their price target on shares of Hilltop from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Hilltop from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hilltop in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Hilltop by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 870,474 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,419,000 after buying an additional 7,302 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Hilltop by 32.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 796,277 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,247,000 after acquiring an additional 192,991 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Hilltop by 3.7% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 762,326 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,477,000 after acquiring an additional 27,203 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hilltop by 37.5% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 711,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,788,000 after acquiring an additional 194,287 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 42.3% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 647,003 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,623,000 after purchasing an additional 192,439 shares during the period. 57.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Hilltop Company Profile

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.