American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 11,759 Shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH)

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH - Free Report) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 427,113 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 11,759 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.66% of Hilltop worth $12,228,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Hilltop in the third quarter worth $314,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 794,060 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $25,537,000 after acquiring an additional 19,936 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Hilltop in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $185,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 36.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,296 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $106,000 after buying an additional 885 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in Hilltop by 74.5% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 17,069 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $549,000 after acquiring an additional 7,287 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HTH has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Hilltop from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James raised Hilltop from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday.

Hilltop Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HTH traded down $0.28 on Friday, hitting $28.52. 899,323 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 332,135. The company's 50 day moving average price is $31.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.39 and a beta of 1.00. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $26.67 and a one year high of $35.32.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.27. Hilltop had a return on equity of 5.18% and a net margin of 7.04%. Research analysts predict that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 13th were given a $0.18 dividend. This is a boost from Hilltop's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 13th. Hilltop's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.38%.

Hilltop Profile

Hilltop Holdings Inc provides business and consumer banking services. It operates through three segments: Banking, Broker-Dealer, and Mortgage Origination. The Banking segment offers savings, checking, interest-bearing checking, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; lines and letters of credit, home improvement and equity loans, loans for purchasing and carrying securities, term, agricultural and commercial real estate, equipment loans, and other lending products; and mortgage, commercial and industrial loans, and term and construction finance.