Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) Rating Lowered to Underperform at Raymond James Financial

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) was downgraded by stock analysts at Raymond James Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on HTH. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Hilltop in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Hilltop from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Hilltop from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.00.

Hilltop Price Performance

Hilltop stock opened at $36.57 on Tuesday. Hilltop has a one year low of $30.78 and a one year high of $40.41. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $38.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.97. The company has a market capitalization of $2.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.54 and a beta of 0.89.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last released its quarterly 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 the consensus estimate of $306.18 million. Hilltop had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 10.17%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.57 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hilltop will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hilltop news, Director Rhodes Bobbitt sold 20,000 shares of Hilltop stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.12, for a total transaction of $802,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 56,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,250,571.52. The trade was a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 52,555 shares of company stock worth $2,087,714 in the last three months. 5.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hilltop

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Hilltop in the 2nd quarter valued at $256,179,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in Hilltop by 1.0% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,546,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $98,769,000 after acquiring an additional 24,912 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 413,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,049,000 after acquiring an additional 12,100 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Hilltop during the second quarter valued at $13,091,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hilltop in the 2nd quarter valued at $10,357,000. 57.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.