Teacher Retirement System of Texas Grows Position in Hilltop Holdings Inc. $HTH

Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) by 10.5% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 17,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,698 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Hilltop were worth $541,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Hilltop by 141.8% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 821 shares in the last quarter. SouthState Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Hilltop during the 1st quarter worth about $56,000. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 134.4% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,811 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 1,612 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S purchased a new stake in shares of Hilltop during the first quarter worth about $170,000. Finally, Madison Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hilltop in the first quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hilltop news, Chairman Jonathan S. Sobel purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $35.36 per share, for a total transaction of $353,600.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chairman owned 127,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,505,889.44. This represents a 8.52% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Steve B. Thompson sold 6,640 shares of Hilltop stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.68, for a total transaction of $216,995.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,998 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,365,974.64. This trade represents a 6.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 60,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,022,800. Corporate insiders own 29.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HTH has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hilltop in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Stephens lifted their price objective on Hilltop from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Hilltop from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.00.

Hilltop Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE HTH opened at $32.98 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.02 billion, a PE ratio of 13.14 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $33.43 and a 200-day moving average of $31.70. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $26.67 and a 52-week high of $36.13.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.25. Hilltop had a return on equity of 7.18% and a net margin of 9.86%.The business had revenue of $330.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $309.68 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 7th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Hilltop’s payout ratio is presently 28.69%.

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.