Martin Bradley Winges Sells 26,000 Shares of Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) Stock

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.46, for a total transaction of $999,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,831 shares in the company, valued at $2,531,860.26. This represents a 28.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Hilltop Stock Performance

HTH stock opened at $39.91 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.45 billion, a PE ratio of 15.06 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a fifty day moving average of $35.38 and a 200-day moving average of $33.81. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $27.35 and a one year high of $40.39.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $217.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $300.15 million. Hilltop had a net margin of 10.19% and a return on equity of 7.47%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. This is an increase from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Hilltop’s payout ratio is 27.17%.

Institutional Trading of Hilltop

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Hilltop by 0.8% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 870,474 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,419,000 after purchasing an additional 7,302 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Hilltop by 32.0% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 796,277 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,247,000 after buying an additional 192,991 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Hilltop by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 762,326 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,477,000 after buying an additional 27,203 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in Hilltop by 37.5% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 711,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,788,000 after buying an additional 194,287 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its position in Hilltop by 42.3% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 647,003 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,623,000 after buying an additional 192,439 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Zacks Research upgraded Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Stephens upped their price target on shares of Hilltop from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hilltop in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Hilltop from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hilltop presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.50.

About Hilltop

Hilltop Holdings, Inc (NYSE: HTH) is a Dallas, Texas–based financial holding company offering commercial banking, mortgage lending and capital markets services through its three primary subsidiaries: PlainsCapital Corporation, PrimeLending and HilltopSecurities. PlainsCapital provides deposit, lending and treasury management solutions to small and mid-sized businesses, professionals and individuals. PrimeLending specializes in home purchase and refinance loans, serving retail, wholesale and correspondent channels.