Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.20 Per Share

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be given a dividend of 0.20 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, February 27th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. This is a 11.1% increase from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18.

Hilltop has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.2%annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 8 years. Hilltop has a dividend payout ratio of 39.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Hilltop to earn $1.87 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 38.5%.

Hilltop Trading Up 3.0%

Shares of Hilltop stock traded up $1.10 on Friday, reaching $37.90. The stock had a trading volume of 64,103 shares, compared to its average volume of 274,715. The business’s 50 day moving average is $34.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.54. Hilltop has a 1 year low of $27.35 and a 1 year high of $38.74. The company has a market cap of $2.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.11 and a beta of 0.91.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.23. Hilltop had a net margin of 9.86% and a return on equity of 7.18%. The firm had revenue of $217.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $300.15 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Hilltop will post 1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Stephens upped their target price on Hilltop from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hilltop in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.00.

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.