Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) Cut to Underperform at Raymond James Financial

Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) from a market perform rating to an underperform rating in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Hilltop from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Hilltop from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of Hilltop in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hilltop has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.00.

Hilltop Price Performance

Shares of HTH stock opened at $36.71 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.98. Hilltop has a one year low of $30.78 and a one year high of $40.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.10 billion, a PE ratio of 13.60 and a beta of 0.89.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $315.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $306.18 million. Hilltop had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 7.40%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Hilltop will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.59%.

Insider Transactions at Hilltop

In other Hilltop news, Director Rhodes Bobbitt sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.12, for a total value of $802,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 56,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,250,571.52. This trade represents a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 52,555 shares of company stock valued at $2,087,714 in the last 90 days. 5.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hilltop

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Hilltop in the 2nd quarter valued at $256,179,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Hilltop during the second quarter worth $13,091,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Hilltop in the second quarter valued at $10,357,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Hilltop in the second quarter valued at $9,573,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Hilltop by 159.3% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 211,095 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,561,000 after buying an additional 129,683 shares in the last quarter. 57.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Hilltop

Hilltop Holdings Inc is a Dallas, Texas-based financial services holding company that provides banking, mortgage lending and securities services through its subsidiaries. The company primarily serves individuals, businesses, government entities and institutional clients, with operations focused largely on the United States and particularly the Texas market.

PlainsCapital Bank, Hilltop’s banking subsidiary, offers commercial and consumer banking products, including loans, deposit accounts, treasury management and other financial services.