Guggenheim Capital LLC Takes Position in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH)

Guggenheim Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH – Get Rating) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 19,358 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $481,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 305,254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,586,000 after purchasing an additional 28,970 shares during the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC raised its stake in Hilltop by 110.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 62,116 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,544,000 after acquiring an additional 32,577 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in Hilltop by 1,330.3% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,416 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,317 shares during the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its stake in Hilltop by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 43,564 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,083,000 after acquiring an additional 5,568 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Hilltop in the 3rd quarter worth $281,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Hilltop Stock Performance

NYSE HTH opened at $29.97 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.50 and a beta of 1.07. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.18 and a fifty-two week high of $34.87.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $349.76 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $301.53 million. Hilltop had a return on equity of 5.22% and a net margin of 7.95%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.78 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 9th. This is a boost from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.51%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Hill A. Feinberg sold 9,001 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.39, for a total transaction of $291,542.39. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 600,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,438,372.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Hill A. Feinberg sold 9,001 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.39, for a total transaction of $291,542.39. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 600,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,438,372.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jerry Schaffner sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.33, for a total value of $1,333,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 136,763 shares in the company, valued at $4,558,310.79. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 22.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Hilltop from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 30th.

Hilltop Company Profile

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Hilltop Holdings, Inc engages in the provision of business and consumer banking services. It operates through the following segments: Banking, Broker-Dealer and Mortgage Origination. The Banking segment includes business banking, personal banking, wealth and investment management. The Broker-Dealer segment includes the following lines of business: public finance, capital markets, retail, structured finance, clearing services and securities lending.