Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) Shares Sold by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund decreased its stake in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,057 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,263 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Hilltop were worth $689,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Hilltop in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Hilltop in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Hilltop in the third quarter worth approximately $49,000. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Hilltop by 64.0% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 1,023 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in Hilltop by 36.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,296 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $106,000 after purchasing an additional 885 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on HTH shares. Raymond James cut shares of Hilltop from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Hilltop from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.00.

Hilltop Stock Performance

NYSE HTH opened at $32.36 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $29.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.60 and a beta of 1.14. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.67 and a fifty-two week high of $35.32.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.27. Hilltop had a net margin of 7.04% and a return on equity of 5.18%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.51 EPS for the current year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 13th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This is a boost from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 13th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio is 41.38%.

Hilltop Company 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.