Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Hilltop Holdings Inc. $HTH

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 212,988 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 12,884 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Hilltop were worth $7,118,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Hilltop by 41.6% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,983 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 583 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its position in Hilltop by 6.1% in the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 11,695 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 674 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in Hilltop by 4.3% in the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 18,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $621,000 after acquiring an additional 761 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC raised its position in Hilltop by 6.8% during the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 13,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $456,000 after purchasing an additional 873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Hilltop during the second quarter worth about $27,000. 57.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Hilltop

In other Hilltop news, CEO Steve B. Thompson sold 9,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.84, for a total value of $359,556.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 91,817 shares in the company, valued at $3,657,989.28. This represents a 8.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.46, for a total transaction of $999,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,531,860.26. This represents a 28.31% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 37,225 shares of company stock worth $1,436,516 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 29.90% of the company’s stock.

Hilltop Trading Up 1.8%

NYSE HTH opened at $39.28 on Friday. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.35 and a 12 month high of $40.41. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $35.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.16. The stock has a market cap of $2.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.82 and a beta of 0.94.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.23. Hilltop had a net margin of 10.19% and a return on equity of 7.47%. The company had revenue of $217.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $300.15 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. This is a positive change from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Hilltop’s payout ratio is presently 27.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on HTH shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Hilltop from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hilltop in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research raised Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Stephens increased their target price on Hilltop from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.50.

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.