Hilltop Holdings Inc. $HTH Shares Acquired by AlphaQuest LLC

AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) by 370.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 58,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 46,360 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Hilltop were worth $1,787,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of HTH. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Hilltop by 236.4% in the first 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. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position 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 worth $24,247,000 after acquiring an additional 192,991 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Hilltop by 38.6% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 546,882 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,653,000 after acquiring an additional 152,358 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hilltop in the first quarter worth approximately $3,763,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Hilltop by 506.6% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 121,781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,708,000 after acquiring an additional 101,705 shares during the last quarter. 57.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hilltop Trading Up 4.6%

NYSE HTH opened at $33.93 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.35. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.67 and a 52 week high of $36.13. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.52 and a beta of 0.87.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.25. Hilltop had a net margin of 9.86% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The business had revenue of $330.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $309.68 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 21st. Investors of record on Friday, November 7th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hilltop

In related news, Chairman Jonathan S. Sobel purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $35.36 per share, with a total value of $353,600.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chairman directly owned 127,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,505,889.44. The trade was a 8.52% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Steve B. Thompson sold 6,640 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.68, for a total transaction of $216,995.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,998 shares in the company, valued at $3,365,974.64. This represents a 6.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders purchased 60,000 shares of company stock worth $2,022,800 over the last ninety days. 29.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on HTH shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Hilltop from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Zacks Research raised shares of Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hilltop in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.00.

Hilltop Profile

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.