First Trust Advisors LP Has $3.02 Million Holdings in Hilltop Holdings Inc. $HTH

First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) by 53.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 84,304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,395 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Hilltop were worth $3,020,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Hilltop by 236.4% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 461,206 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,044,000 after acquiring an additional 324,108 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its stake in shares of Hilltop by 106.9% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 493,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,503,000 after purchasing an additional 255,141 shares in the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Hilltop during the third quarter valued at about $8,337,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 37.5% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 711,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,788,000 after purchasing an additional 194,287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Hilltop by 32.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 796,277 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,247,000 after buying an additional 192,991 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HTH has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Hilltop from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of Hilltop in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Hilltop from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Zacks Research raised Hilltop from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. One 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 MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.00.

Insider Activity at Hilltop

In related news, Director Rhodes R. Bobbitt sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $2,250,571.52. This trade represents a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 62,555 shares of company stock worth $2,434,714. 5.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hilltop Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HTH opened at $39.40 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $38.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.61. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.25 and a 52-week high of $40.41. The company has a market capitalization of $2.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.59 and a beta of 0.89.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.14. Hilltop had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The business had revenue of $315.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $306.18 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.57 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 2.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 7th. This is a positive change from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.59%.

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.