Freestone Grove Partners LP Purchases Shares of 246,843 Hilltop Holdings Inc. $HTH

Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 246,843 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,573,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of HTH. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 22.6% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Hilltop by 37.3% during 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 during the period. MQS Management LLC raised its position in Hilltop by 2.2% in the first quarter. MQS Management LLC now owns 16,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $589,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its position in Hilltop by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 37,559 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,275,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Hilltop by 36.2% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,817 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 483 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Rhodes R. Bobbitt sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.80, for a total value of $194,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 25,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $994,870.80. This represents a 16.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 62,555 shares of company stock worth $2,467,714 in the last quarter. 5.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hilltop Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE:HTH opened at $38.51 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.26 and a beta of 0.89. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.78 and a 1-year high of $40.41.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $315.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $306.18 million. Hilltop had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 10.17%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.57 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 2.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on HTH. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Hilltop from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hilltop in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Hilltop in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Hilltop from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Hilltop currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.00.

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.