Zacks Research Increases Earnings Estimates for Hilltop

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) – Stock analysts at Zacks Research raised their FY2026 EPS estimates for shares of Hilltop in a research report issued on Thursday, May 14th. Zacks Research analyst Team now expects that the financial services provider will post earnings per share of $2.18 for the year, up from their previous estimate of $1.89. Zacks Research has a “Strong-Buy” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Hilltop’s current full-year earnings is $2.23 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Hilltop’s Q1 2028 earnings at $0.43 EPS.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Hilltop from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Hilltop from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hilltop has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.50.

Hilltop Stock Performance

NYSE:HTH opened at $36.76 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.92 and a beta of 0.89. Hilltop has a 52 week low of $28.92 and a 52 week high of $40.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $36.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.92.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $300.51 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $304.87 million. Hilltop had a net margin of 10.13% and a return on equity of 7.32%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.65 EPS.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HTH. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Hilltop by 41.9% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 10,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 3,192 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Hilltop by 623.7% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 79,654 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,425,000 after buying an additional 68,648 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Hilltop by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 27,846 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $848,000 after buying an additional 1,362 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Hilltop by 236.4% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 461,206 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,044,000 after buying an additional 324,108 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Hilltop by 32.0% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 796,277 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,247,000 after buying an additional 192,991 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Hilltop

In other news, major shareholder Gerald J. Ford sold 259,771 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.98, for a total transaction of $9,866,102.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 7,867 shares in the company, valued at approximately $298,788.66. This represents a 97.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rhodes R. Bobbitt sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.25, for a total value of $372,500.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 117,016 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,358,846. The trade was a 7.87% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 271,771 shares of company stock worth $10,314,603. 29.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hilltop Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 8th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.30%.

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.