GSA Capital Partners LLP Takes $666,000 Position in Hilltop Holdings Inc. $HTH

GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 17,170 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $666,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of HTH. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Hilltop by 156.7% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 81,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,772,000 after purchasing an additional 49,859 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 39.8% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 286,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,247,000 after buying an additional 81,448 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 43.3% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 165,263 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,920,000 after buying an additional 49,900 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Hilltop by 53.5% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 84,304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,020,000 after buying an additional 29,395 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Hilltop by 6.2% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 265,731 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,518,000 after buying an additional 15,503 shares during the period. 57.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HTH has been the topic of several research reports. 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 report on Wednesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of Hilltop in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Hilltop from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Hilltop from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Hilltop presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.00.

Hilltop Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of HTH opened at $38.47 on Thursday. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.78 and a twelve month high of $40.41. The stock has a market cap of $2.20 billion, a PE ratio of 14.25 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $38.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.79.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $315.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $306.18 million. Hilltop had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 7.40%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.57 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 2.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 7th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hilltop

In related news, Director Rhodes R. Bobbitt sold 20,000 shares of Hilltop stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.12, for a total transaction of $802,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 56,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,250,571.52. This trade represents a 26.28% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 62,555 shares of company stock valued at $2,457,214 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 5.40% 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.