Brokerages Set Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) Price Target at $37.50

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $37.50.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HTH. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Hilltop from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. Zacks Research downgraded Hilltop from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hilltop in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Hilltop from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hilltop news, CEO Steve B. Thompson sold 9,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.84, for a total value of $359,556.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 91,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,657,989.28. The trade was a 8.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Gerald J. Ford sold 259,771 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.98, for a total transaction of $9,866,102.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 7,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $298,788.66. This represents a 97.06% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 294,796 shares of company stock valued at $11,225,619 over the last ninety days. 29.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hilltop

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Corient Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Hilltop in the fourth quarter worth about $304,000. Lexington Hill Partners LLC bought a new position in Hilltop during the fourth quarter worth about $354,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in Hilltop by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 97,482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,309,000 after purchasing an additional 4,924 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Hilltop by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 250,228 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,493,000 after purchasing an additional 12,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Hilltop in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,660,000. 57.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hilltop Trading Down 1.2%

HTH opened at $35.21 on Thursday. Hilltop has a 1 year low of $27.35 and a 1 year high of $40.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $37.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.99. The stock has a market cap of $2.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.29 and a beta of 0.92.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $217.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $300.15 million. Hilltop had a net margin of 10.19% and a return on equity of 7.47%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.55 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Hilltop will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This is a boost from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.19%.

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.