Jennison Associates LLC Purchases 22,704 Shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH)

Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH - Free Report) by 5.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 454,929 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 22,704 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 0.70% of Hilltop worth $13,025,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new position in Hilltop in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Hilltop in the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,000. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Hilltop by 64.0% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,621 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 1,023 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Hilltop by 36.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,296 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $106,000 after acquiring an additional 885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Hilltop during the third quarter valued at approximately $185,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.13% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Keith E. Bornemann sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total value of $80,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,124 shares in the company, valued at approximately $291,968. This trade represents a 21.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 29.30% of the company's stock.

Hilltop Stock Performance

HTH traded down $0.64 on Friday, reaching $32.13. The company had a trading volume of 405,124 shares, compared to its average volume of 413,846. The stock has a market cap of $2.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.47 and a beta of 1.14. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.67 and a fifty-two week high of $35.32. The company's fifty day moving average is $29.71 and its 200 day moving average is $31.12.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH - Get Free Report) last released 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.51 EPS for the current year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 13th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.24%. This is a boost from Hilltop's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 13th. Hilltop's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on HTH. Raymond James downgraded Hilltop from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Hilltop from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $34.00.

About Hilltop

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.