Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Lowers Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) Price Target to $34.00

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) had its price target cut by equities research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $35.00 to $34.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “market perform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 12.84% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on HTH. Raymond James lowered shares of Hilltop from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of Hilltop from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hilltop currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.00.

Hilltop Price Performance

NYSE:HTH traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $30.13. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 146,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 377,323. Hilltop has a 1 year low of $26.67 and a 1 year high of $35.32. The stock has a market cap of $1.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.33 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s fifty day moving average is $29.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.16.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts anticipate that Hilltop will post 1.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Hilltop

In other Hilltop news, CAO Keith E. Bornemann sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total value of $80,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,124 shares in the company, valued at approximately $291,968. This represents a 21.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 30,851 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.61, for a total transaction of $1,006,051.11. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 77,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,535,362.28. The trade was a 28.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 29.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hilltop

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sunbelt Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Hilltop in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hilltop during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Hilltop during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 64.0% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 1,023 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 36.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,296 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $106,000 after buying an additional 885 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

About Hilltop

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.