Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $40.00.

HTH has been the topic of several analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Hilltop from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Hilltop in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Hilltop from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hilltop in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hilltop news, Director Rhodes R. Bobbitt sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.12, for a total transaction of $802,400.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 56,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,250,571.52. This represents a 26.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders have sold 62,555 shares of company stock valued at $2,457,214. Insiders own 5.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hilltop

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in shares of Hilltop by 156.7% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 81,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,772,000 after acquiring an additional 49,859 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Hilltop by 39.8% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 286,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,247,000 after purchasing an additional 81,448 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hilltop by 43.3% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 165,263 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,920,000 after purchasing an additional 49,900 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Hilltop by 53.5% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 84,304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,020,000 after purchasing an additional 29,395 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Hilltop by 6.2% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 265,731 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,518,000 after purchasing an additional 15,503 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

Hilltop Stock Performance

NYSE HTH opened at $38.70 on Friday. Hilltop has a twelve month low of $30.78 and a twelve month high of $40.41. The stock has a market cap of $2.22 billion, a PE ratio of 14.33 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.81.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.14. Hilltop had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The firm had revenue of $315.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $306.18 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Hilltop will post 2.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is an increase from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. Hilltop’s payout ratio is currently 32.59%.

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.