Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) Director Sells $372,500.00 in Stock

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) Director Rhodes Bobbitt sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.25, for a total transaction of $372,500.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 117,016 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,358,846. This trade represents a 7.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Hilltop Stock Performance

Shares of HTH traded down $0.53 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $36.28. 261,895 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 366,511. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $36.60 and a 200-day moving average of $35.87. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $28.92 and a 52 week high of $40.41. The stock has a market cap of $2.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.74 and a beta of 0.89.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.10. Hilltop had a net margin of 10.13% and a return on equity of 7.32%. The business had revenue of $300.51 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $304.87 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.65 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 8th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Hilltop from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Hilltop from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Zacks Research raised shares of Hilltop from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Hilltop from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.50.

Institutional Trading of Hilltop

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HTH. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in Hilltop by 41.9% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 10,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $330,000 after purchasing an additional 3,192 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Hilltop by 623.7% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 79,654 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,425,000 after purchasing an additional 68,648 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in Hilltop by 5.1% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 27,846 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $848,000 after purchasing an additional 1,362 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake 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. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Hilltop by 32.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 796,277 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,247,000 after purchasing an additional 192,991 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

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.