StockNews.com Upgrades Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) to Hold

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Hilltop (NYSE:HTH - Free Report) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Thursday.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Hilltop from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Hilltop from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $34.50.

Hilltop Price Performance

Shares of HTH stock traded up $0.05 on Thursday, hitting $30.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 409,958 shares, compared to its average volume of 307,887. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.01 and a beta of 1.13. Hilltop has a fifty-two week low of $26.78 and a fifty-two week high of $35.66. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $31.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.22.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.05. Hilltop had a net margin of 7.10% and a return on equity of 5.30%. The firm had revenue of $297.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $283.22 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. The business's revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Hilltop will post 1.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. Hilltop's dividend payout ratio is 39.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Hill A. Feinberg sold 17,157 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.99, for a total transaction of $566,009.43. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 544,979 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,978,857.21. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 28.90% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hilltop

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Hilltop by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,393,284 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $168,918,000 after buying an additional 153,697 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Hilltop by 2.1% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 793,868 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $24,832,000 after purchasing an additional 16,426 shares during the period. Hodges Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Hilltop by 2.6% in the second quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 472,101 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $14,767,000 after purchasing an additional 12,106 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in Hilltop by 7.4% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 315,185 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $9,872,000 after purchasing an additional 21,771 shares during the period. Finally, King Luther Capital Management Corp raised its holdings in Hilltop by 43.2% in the second quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 116,099 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,632,000 after purchasing an additional 35,017 shares during the period. 57.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hilltop Company 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.