Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $40.00

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the six analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $40.00.

HTH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Hilltop from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Raymond James Financial cut shares of Hilltop from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Hilltop from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Hilltop in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Hilltop from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 6th.

Hilltop Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of HTH opened at $36.51 on Friday. Hilltop has a 1 year low of $30.78 and a 1 year high of $40.41. The stock has a market cap of $2.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.55 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $38.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.01.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $315.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $306.18 million. Hilltop had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 10.17%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.57 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Hilltop will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This is a positive change from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.59%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Rhodes Bobbitt sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.12, for a total value of $802,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 56,096 shares in the company, valued at $2,250,571.52. This represents a 26.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 52,555 shares of company stock valued at $2,087,714. 5.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 39.8% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 286,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,247,000 after buying an additional 81,448 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Hilltop during the second quarter worth $4,067,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Hilltop during the second quarter worth $13,091,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hilltop during the second quarter worth $10,357,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 43.3% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 165,263 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,920,000 after acquiring an additional 49,900 shares during the period. 57.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Hilltop

Hilltop Holdings Inc is a Dallas, Texas-based financial services holding company that provides banking, mortgage lending and securities services through its subsidiaries. The company primarily serves individuals, businesses, government entities and institutional clients, with operations focused largely on the United States and particularly the Texas market.

PlainsCapital Bank, Hilltop’s banking subsidiary, offers commercial and consumer banking products, including loans, deposit accounts, treasury management and other financial services.