Mangrove Partners IM LLC Makes New $987,000 Investment in Hilltop Holdings Inc. $HTH

Mangrove Partners IM LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 29,538 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $987,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of HTH. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 0.8% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 870,474 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,419,000 after acquiring an additional 7,302 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased 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 valued at $24,247,000 after acquiring an additional 192,991 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in Hilltop by 42.3% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 647,003 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,623,000 after acquiring an additional 192,439 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Hilltop by 1.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 498,420 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,657,000 after acquiring an additional 8,343 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Hilltop by 236.4% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 461,206 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,044,000 after purchasing an additional 324,108 shares during the last quarter. 57.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hilltop Stock Performance

HTH stock opened at $34.74 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $37.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.99. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $27.35 and a one year high of $40.41. The company has a market capitalization of $2.07 billion, a PE ratio of 13.11 and a beta of 0.92.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.23. The company 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 last year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.51 EPS 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This is a positive change 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%. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Hilltop from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Hilltop from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hilltop in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Hilltop from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Hilltop presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.50.

Insider Transactions at Hilltop

In other news, major shareholder Gerald J. Ford sold 259,771 shares of Hilltop stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.98, for a total value of $9,866,102.58. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 7,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $298,788.66. The trade was a 97.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Steve B. Thompson sold 9,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.84, for a total value of $359,556.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 91,817 shares in the company, valued at $3,657,989.28. This represents a 8.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 294,796 shares of company stock valued at $11,225,619. 29.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.