Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) Short Interest Update

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH - Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 881,000 shares, an increase of 7.6% from the November 30th total of 818,600 shares. Currently, 1.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 337,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Hilltop Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of HTH traded up $0.16 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $28.63. The company had a trading volume of 250,177 shares, compared to its average volume of 314,384. Hilltop has a 12-month low of $28.34 and a 12-month high of $35.44. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.49. The company has a market capitalization of $1.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.56 and a beta of 1.13.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $411.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $302.29 million. Hilltop had a net margin of 6.65% and a return on equity of 4.90%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.57 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Hilltop will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Hilltop Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. Hilltop's payout ratio is 41.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on HTH. Raymond James cut shares of Hilltop from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Hilltop from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Hilltop from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $34.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hilltop

In other news, CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 30,851 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.61, for a total transaction of $1,006,051.11. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 77,748 shares in the company, valued at $2,535,362.28. This represents a 28.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Keith E. Bornemann sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $291,968. This represents a 21.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 29.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hilltop

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Hilltop by 187.9% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 511,286 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $16,443,000 after buying an additional 333,695 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its position in Hilltop by 419.7% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 383,692 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $12,340,000 after acquiring an additional 309,858 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 90.5% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 592,138 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $19,043,000 after purchasing an additional 281,230 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Hilltop by 4.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,568,227 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $82,594,000 after purchasing an additional 107,348 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Hilltop by 27.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 382,430 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $12,299,000 after purchasing an additional 81,780 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.13% of the company's stock.

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.