UBS Group AG Lowers Holdings in Hilltop Holdings Inc. $HTH

UBS Group AG decreased its position in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) by 38.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 397,611 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 249,392 shares during the period. UBS Group AG’s holdings in Hilltop were worth $13,495,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 15,919 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $540,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 42.7% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 4.3% in the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 18,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $621,000 after purchasing an additional 761 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 3.2% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 26,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $895,000 after purchasing an additional 840 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 584.7% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 918 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on HTH. Wall Street Zen upgraded Hilltop from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Hilltop from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Zacks Research upgraded Hilltop from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Hilltop from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.50.

Hilltop Stock Up 0.7%

Hilltop stock opened at $36.86 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $36.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.87. The firm has a market cap of $2.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.96 and a beta of 0.89. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $28.92 and a twelve month high of $40.41.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $300.51 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $304.87 million. Hilltop had a return on equity of 7.32% and a net margin of 10.13%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.65 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Hilltop Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 8th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Keith E. Bornemann sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.00, for a total transaction of $76,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $300,656. This represents a 20.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Gerald J. Ford sold 259,771 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.98, for a total value of $9,866,102.58. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,867 shares in the company, valued at approximately $298,788.66. The trade was a 97.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 29.90% of the company’s stock.

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.