Ellsworth Advisors LLC Acquires 28,540 Shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. $HTH

Ellsworth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 28,540 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,075,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Hilltop in the second quarter valued at approximately $256,179,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Hilltop by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,546,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $98,769,000 after buying an additional 24,912 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC raised its position in Hilltop by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 413,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,049,000 after buying an additional 12,100 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Hilltop during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $13,091,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Hilltop by 39.8% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 286,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,247,000 after buying an additional 81,448 shares during the last quarter. 57.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hilltop Stock Performance

Shares of Hilltop stock opened at $36.74 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.02. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.78 and a fifty-two week high of $40.41. The company has a market cap of $2.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.61 and a beta of 0.89.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.14. Hilltop had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 10.17%. The firm had revenue of $315.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $306.18 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.57 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a positive change from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Hilltop’s payout ratio is 32.59%.

Insider Transactions at Hilltop

In other Hilltop news, Director Rhodes Bobbitt sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.80, for a total transaction of $194,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 25,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $994,870.80. This trade represents a 16.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 52,555 shares of company stock valued at $2,087,714. 5.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on HTH shares. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Hilltop in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Hilltop from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Hilltop from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Hilltop from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered Hilltop from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hilltop presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.00.

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.