Hilltop Holdings Inc. $HTH Shares Sold by Citigroup Inc.

Citigroup Inc. trimmed its holdings in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) by 48.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 57,383 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 52,863 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in Hilltop were worth $1,918,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 18.2% in the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 153,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,118,000 after purchasing an additional 23,600 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its stake in Hilltop by 76.4% during the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 22,498 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $752,000 after buying an additional 9,744 shares during the last quarter. denkapparat Operations GmbH boosted its stake in Hilltop by 20.3% during the third quarter. denkapparat Operations GmbH now owns 17,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $601,000 after buying an additional 3,042 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Hilltop by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 498,420 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,657,000 after buying an additional 8,343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in Hilltop by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 171,976 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,747,000 after buying an additional 16,683 shares in the last quarter. 57.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Hilltop news, CEO Steve B. Thompson sold 9,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.84, for a total transaction of $359,556.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 91,817 shares in the company, valued at $3,657,989.28. This represents a 8.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.46, for a total transaction of $999,960.00. Following the sale, 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 position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 29.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HTH has been the topic of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Hilltop from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Zacks Research cut Hilltop from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hilltop in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.50.

Hilltop Stock Performance

Shares of HTH stock opened at $36.81 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.89 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $36.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.95. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $27.35 and a one year high of $40.41.

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

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This is a positive change from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.19%.

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.