Swiss National Bank Cuts Stake in Hilltop Holdings Inc. $HTH

Swiss National Bank lowered its stake in shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) by 1.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 94,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,200 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Hilltop were worth $2,874,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Hilltop by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 829,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,225 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Hilltop by 85.4% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 797,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,846,000 after purchasing an additional 367,564 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Hilltop by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 644,365 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,449,000 after purchasing an additional 52,227 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Hilltop by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 394,524 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,295,000 after buying an additional 2,720 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Hilltop by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 351,528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,064,000 after buying an additional 9,672 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on HTH. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Hilltop from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Hilltop from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat, Hilltop has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.00.

Hilltop Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:HTH opened at $33.17 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.47. The firm has a market cap of $2.09 billion, a PE ratio of 14.87 and a beta of 0.87. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $26.67 and a 12-month high of $34.68.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.16. Hilltop had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 6.46%. The business had revenue of $303.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $310.18 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Hilltop’s payout ratio is presently 32.29%.

Insider Activity at Hilltop

In other news, Chairman Jonathan S. Sobel purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $32.93 per share, for a total transaction of $329,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 77,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,549,736.97. The trade was a 14.83% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have bought a total of 30,000 shares of company stock worth $976,000 in the last three months. 29.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.