Hilltop Holdings Inc. $HTH Shares Sold by Tudor Investment Corp ET AL

Tudor Investment Corp ET AL lowered its stake in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) by 41.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 138,790 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 98,698 shares during the quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL’s holdings in Hilltop were worth $4,638,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Hilltop by 584.7% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 918 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in Hilltop in the third quarter valued at about $43,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Hilltop by 42.7% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Hilltop by 41.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,983 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hilltop by 392.9% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 4,416 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $148,000 after purchasing an additional 3,520 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

Hilltop Stock Performance

HTH stock opened at $37.42 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $37.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.08. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.35 and a fifty-two week high of $40.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.12 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.23. Hilltop had a net margin of 10.19% and a return on equity of 7.47%. The firm had revenue of $217.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $300.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.55 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th were paid 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 2.1%. Hilltop’s payout ratio is currently 30.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Steve B. Thompson sold 9,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.84, for a total transaction of $359,556.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 91,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,657,989.28. This represents a 8.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.46, for a total transaction of $999,960.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 65,831 shares in the company, valued at $2,531,860.26. The trade was a 28.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 294,796 shares of company stock worth $11,225,619. Company insiders own 29.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HTH has been the topic of several research reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 4th. Zacks Research cut shares of Hilltop from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hilltop in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Hilltop from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.50.

Hilltop 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.