Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Hilltop from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Stephens upped their target price on Hilltop from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $34.50.

Hilltop Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of HTH stock opened at $31.28 on Wednesday. Hilltop has a twelve month low of $26.78 and a twelve month high of $35.66. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.21. The company has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.29 and a beta of 1.13.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $297.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $283.22 million. Hilltop had a net margin of 7.10% and a return on equity of 5.30%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Hilltop will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Hilltop’s payout ratio is currently 39.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Hill A. Feinberg sold 17,157 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.99, for a total transaction of $566,009.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 544,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,978,857.21. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 28.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hilltop

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hilltop during the second quarter worth $28,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Hilltop in the 2nd quarter worth about $69,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hilltop by 91.1% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,902 shares during the period. Duality Advisers LP bought a new stake in shares of Hilltop during the 1st quarter valued at about $275,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in Hilltop by 7.4% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 9,407 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 647 shares during the period. 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.