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

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 958,000 shares, a drop of 8.8% from the January 15th total of 1,050,000 shares. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 353,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hilltop

In related news, CAO Keith E. Bornemann sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total transaction of $80,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,124 shares in the company, valued at $291,968. This represents a 21.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 29.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hilltop

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of HTH. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 85.4% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 797,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $22,846,000 after purchasing an additional 367,564 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Hilltop by 187.9% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 511,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,443,000 after buying an additional 333,695 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hilltop by 419.7% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 383,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,340,000 after acquiring an additional 309,858 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 90.5% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 592,138 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,043,000 after acquiring an additional 281,230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Hilltop by 116.0% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 322,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,236,000 after acquiring an additional 173,245 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HTH has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James downgraded Hilltop from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Hilltop from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hilltop currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.00.

Hilltop Stock Down 1.2 %

Hilltop stock traded down $0.37 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $31.54. The company had a trading volume of 227,243 shares, compared to its average volume of 413,846. The stock has a market cap of $2.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.13 and a beta of 1.14. Hilltop has a 1 year low of $26.67 and a 1 year high of $35.32. The business has a fifty day moving average of $29.73 and a 200 day moving average of $31.01.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Hilltop will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 13th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. This is a boost from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 13th. Hilltop’s payout ratio is presently 39.08%.

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.