Insider Selling: Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) Director Sells 5,000 Shares of Stock

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) Director Rhodes Bobbitt sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.80, for a total transaction of $194,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 30,641 shares in the company, valued at $1,188,870.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Hilltop Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE:HTH traded down $0.12 on Tuesday, reaching $38.55. 186,502 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 229,112. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.80. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.78 and a 12 month high of $40.41. The firm has a market cap of $2.21 billion, a PE ratio of 14.28 and a beta of 0.89.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $315.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $306.18 million. Hilltop had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 7.40%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 2.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend 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 32.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hilltop

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Hilltop in the 2nd quarter worth $256,179,000. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in Hilltop by 3,672.0% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,174,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,338,000 after acquiring an additional 2,117,126 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Hilltop in the second quarter valued at about $13,091,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in Hilltop by 236.4% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 461,206 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,044,000 after acquiring an additional 324,108 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in Hilltop in the second quarter worth about $10,357,000. Institutional investors own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

Hilltop Company 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.