Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) saw a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 723,700 shares, a decline of 5.4% from the March 15th total of 764,900 shares. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 311,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hilltop news, Director Hill A. Feinberg sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.63, for a total transaction of $94,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $435,734.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.83, for a total value of $924,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 98,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,050,135.22. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Hill A. Feinberg sold 3,000 shares of Hilltop stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.63, for a total transaction of $94,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $435,734.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 28.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hilltop

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 200.0% in the 1st quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,524 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 1,016 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Hilltop by 31.5% during the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,888 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in Hilltop by 29.5% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in Hilltop by 16.7% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $85,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 23.5% during the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,733 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HTH has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James upgraded shares of Hilltop from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 5th. TheStreet cut shares of Hilltop from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th.

Hilltop Stock Down 1.1 %

NYSE HTH opened at $29.20 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.90 billion, a PE ratio of 17.28 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $30.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.97. Hilltop has a fifty-two week low of $26.78 and a fifty-two week high of $35.66.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $290.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $296.89 million. Hilltop had a net margin of 7.00% and a return on equity of 5.20%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Hilltop will post 1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. This is an increase from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio is 40.24%.

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.