Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) Receives $40.00 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $40.00.

HTH has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Hilltop from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hilltop in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Zacks Research upgraded Hilltop from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th.

Hilltop Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Hilltop stock opened at $38.65 on Friday. Hilltop has a 12-month low of $30.78 and a 12-month high of $40.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.31 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.79.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.14. The business 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Hilltop will post 2.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 positive change from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.59%.

Insider Activity at Hilltop

In other news, Director Rhodes R. Bobbitt sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.80, for a total value of $194,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 25,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $994,870.80. This represents a 16.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 62,555 shares of company stock valued at $2,467,714. 5.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hilltop

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Hilltop during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Hilltop by 584.7% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 918 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 37.3% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 313 shares during the period. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of Hilltop in the 3rd quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hilltop by 276.4% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,370 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 1,006 shares during the last quarter. 57.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.