Hilltop Holdings Inc. $HTH Shares Bought by Rafferty Asset Management LLC

Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) by 31.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 72,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,509 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Hilltop were worth $2,435,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of HTH. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 7,302 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 192,991 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Hilltop by 1.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 498,420 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,657,000 after buying an additional 8,343 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Hilltop by 236.4% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 461,206 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,044,000 after buying an additional 324,108 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Hilltop by 40.2% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 425,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,907,000 after buying an additional 121,836 shares during the period. 57.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Hilltop

In other news, CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.46, for a total value of $999,960.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Steve B. Thompson sold 9,025 shares of Hilltop stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.84, for a total value of $359,556.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 91,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,657,989.28. The trade was a 8.95% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 29.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HTH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Hilltop from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hilltop in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.50.

Hilltop Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HTH opened at $37.47 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $36.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.88. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.35 and a 1 year high of $40.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a PE ratio of 14.14 and a beta of 0.92.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $217.40 million for 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This is a positive change from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Hilltop’s payout ratio is currently 30.19%.

Hilltop Company Profile

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.