Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) Upgraded at Raymond James

Raymond James upgraded shares of Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) from an underperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat reports.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Hilltop from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd.

Hilltop Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of Hilltop stock opened at $28.52 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.39 and a beta of 1.14. Hilltop has a 1 year low of $26.67 and a 1 year high of $35.32. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.86.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.27. Hilltop had a net margin of 7.04% and a return on equity of 5.18%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Hilltop will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 13th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 13th. This is a boost from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.38%.

Institutional Trading of Hilltop

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hilltop by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,383,034 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $154,116,000 after acquiring an additional 32,605 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Hilltop by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,568,227 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $82,594,000 after purchasing an additional 107,348 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Hilltop by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,056,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,991,000 after buying an additional 17,477 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Hilltop by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 826,187 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,654,000 after buying an additional 32,127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Hilltop by 85.4% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 797,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $22,846,000 after acquiring an additional 367,564 shares during the last quarter. 57.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.