Rhodes Bobbitt Sells 5,000 Shares of Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) Stock

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) Director Rhodes Bobbitt sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.80, for a total transaction of $194,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 25,641 shares in the company, valued at $994,870.80. The trade was a 16.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Hilltop Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE:HTH opened at $38.65 on Thursday. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.78 and a 12 month high of $40.41. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.79. The company has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.31 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Hilltop Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on HTH shares. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Hilltop in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Hilltop from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Hilltop from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hilltop in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hilltop presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.00.

Institutional Trading of Hilltop

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HTH. Amundi raised its position in Hilltop by 9.3% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 8,718 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $338,000 after acquiring an additional 744 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in Hilltop by 3,672.0% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,174,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $84,338,000 after purchasing an additional 2,117,126 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hilltop during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,679,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hilltop during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $10,357,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Hilltop during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,070,000. 57.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Hilltop

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.