GSA Capital Partners LLP Buys Shares of 17,170 Hilltop Holdings Inc. $HTH

GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 17,170 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $666,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in Hilltop by 156.7% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 81,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,772,000 after acquiring an additional 49,859 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Hilltop by 39.8% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 286,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,247,000 after purchasing an additional 81,448 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 53.5% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 84,304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,020,000 after purchasing an additional 29,395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Hilltop by 6.2% during the 1st 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. 57.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on HTH shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Hilltop from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Hilltop from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Hilltop from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Hilltop in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hilltop

In other news, Director Rhodes R. Bobbitt sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.50, for a total transaction of $395,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 45,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,802,819.50. The trade was a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 62,555 shares of company stock valued at $2,457,214. 5.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hilltop Trading Down 1.4%

HTH stock opened at $38.47 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.25 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $38.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.79. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.78 and a 12-month high of $40.41.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.14. Hilltop had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 10.17%.The company had revenue of $315.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $306.18 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 2.59 EPS for the current year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This is an increase from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 7th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.