Hilltop Holdings Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.17 (NYSE:HTH)

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, NASDAQ reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.17 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, May 24th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th.

Hilltop has raised its dividend payment by an average of 21.1% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 7 consecutive years. Hilltop has a payout ratio of 36.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Hilltop to earn $1.80 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.8%.

Hilltop Trading Up 3.3 %

Shares of HTH stock traded up $0.95 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $30.00. 605,305 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 311,891. Hilltop has a 1 year low of $26.78 and a 1 year high of $35.66. The stock has a market cap of $1.95 billion, a PE ratio of 17.20 and a beta of 1.12. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $30.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.94.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.14. Hilltop had a return on equity of 5.20% and a net margin of 7.00%. The business had revenue of $285.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $274.55 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Hilltop will post 1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Raymond James raised Hilltop from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 5th. TheStreet downgraded Hilltop from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hilltop news, Director Hill A. Feinberg sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.63, for a total value of $94,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $435,734.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Hilltop news, Director Hill A. Feinberg sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.63, for a total value of $94,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $435,734.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.83, for a total value of $924,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 98,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,050,135.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 28.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hilltop

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Hilltop by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 37,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,307,000 after buying an additional 1,217 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its position in shares of Hilltop by 3,479.9% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 46,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,649,000 after buying an additional 45,517 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Hilltop by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 49,197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,732,000 after buying an additional 2,497 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Hilltop by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 112,629 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,967,000 after buying an additional 27,109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Hilltop by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,239,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $184,486,000 after buying an additional 105,716 shares in the last quarter. 57.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Hilltop

Hilltop Holdings Inc provides business and consumer banking services. It operates through three segments: Banking, Broker-Dealer, and Mortgage Origination. The Banking segment offers savings, checking, interest-bearing checking, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; lines and letters of credit, home improvement and equity loans, loans for purchasing and carrying securities, term, agricultural and commercial real estate, equipment loans, and other lending products; and mortgage, commercial and industrial loans, and term and construction finance.