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

Shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $40.00.

HTH has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Hilltop in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Zacks Research upgraded Hilltop from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Hilltop from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hilltop in a report on Wednesday, August 19th.

Hilltop Stock Down 0.2%

NYSE:HTH opened at $38.49 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.21 billion, a PE ratio of 14.26 and a beta of 0.89. Hilltop has a 12 month low of $30.78 and a 12 month high of $40.41. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $38.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.79.

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

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th were paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. This is a positive change from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Hilltop’s payout ratio is presently 32.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Rhodes R. Bobbitt sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.12, for a total value of $802,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 56,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,250,571.52. The trade was a 26.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 62,555 shares of company stock valued at $2,467,714 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 5.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hilltop

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Hilltop in the 2nd quarter valued at about $256,179,000. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Hilltop by 3,672.0% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,174,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,338,000 after buying an additional 2,117,126 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Hilltop by 0.8% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 870,474 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,419,000 after buying an additional 7,302 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Hilltop by 32.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 796,277 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,247,000 after buying an additional 192,991 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Hilltop by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 762,326 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,477,000 after acquiring an additional 27,203 shares during the period. 57.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Hilltop

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.