The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Acquires New Shares in Hilltop Holdings Inc. $HTH

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 21,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $823,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HTH. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Hilltop during the second quarter valued at $256,179,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Hilltop in the 2nd quarter valued at about $13,091,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Hilltop by 236.4% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 461,206 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,044,000 after purchasing an additional 324,108 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its stake in Hilltop by 106.9% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 493,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,503,000 after purchasing an additional 255,141 shares during the period. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in Hilltop during the 3rd quarter valued at about $8,337,000. 57.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hilltop news, Director Rhodes Bobbitt sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.80, for a total value of $194,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 25,641 shares in the company, valued at $994,870.80. This represents a 16.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 52,555 shares of company stock worth $2,087,714 over the last quarter. 5.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hilltop Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of HTH opened at $39.20 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $38.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.25 billion, a PE ratio of 14.52 and a beta of 0.88. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.78 and a 52-week high of $40.41.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $315.81 million for 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 in the previous year, the firm earned $0.57 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 2.59 EPS for the current year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on HTH shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Hilltop from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings raised Hilltop from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Hilltop in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.00.

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.