MQS Management LLC Takes Position in Hilltop Holdings Inc. $HTH

MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 16,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $546,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in HTH. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Hilltop in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew 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 worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 918 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in Hilltop by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 313 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in Hilltop in the third quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew 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 worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. 57.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hilltop Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE HTH opened at $37.23 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.03. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $28.92 and a 12-month high of $40.41. The firm has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.10 and a beta of 0.89.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.64 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $304.87 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.65 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hilltop

In other Hilltop news, major shareholder Gerald J. Ford sold 259,771 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.98, for a total transaction of $9,866,102.58. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 7,867 shares in the company, valued at $298,788.66. This represents a 97.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Keith E. Bornemann sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.00, for a total transaction of $76,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 7,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $300,656. The trade was a 20.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 271,771 shares of company stock worth $10,314,603 over the last three months. Company insiders own 29.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HTH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price 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. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Hilltop from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Hilltop from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.