GAMMA Investing LLC Grows Position in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH)

GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) by 4,242.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,631 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,225 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Hilltop were worth $579,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of HTH. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Hilltop by 85.4% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 797,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $22,846,000 after purchasing an additional 367,564 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Hilltop by 116.0% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 322,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,236,000 after purchasing an additional 173,245 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Hilltop in the fourth quarter worth $3,978,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Hilltop by 158.9% in the fourth quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 153,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,388,000 after purchasing an additional 94,073 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp ET AL increased its stake in shares of Hilltop by 98.9% in the fourth quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 137,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,930,000 after purchasing an additional 68,276 shares in the last quarter. 57.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hilltop Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HTH opened at $29.34 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $29.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.02. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.67 and a fifty-two week high of $35.32. The firm has a market cap of $1.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.89 and a beta of 0.88.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.37. Hilltop had a net margin of 7.87% and a return on equity of 5.79%. The firm had revenue of $318.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $290.68 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Hilltop Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 8th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 8th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.45%. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio is 36.55%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Hilltop from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Hilltop from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd.

Hilltop Profile

Hilltop Holdings Inc provides business and consumer banking services. It operates through three segments: Banking, Broker-Dealer, and Mortgage Origination. The Banking segment offers savings, checking, interest-bearing checking, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; lines and letters of credit, home improvement and equity loans, loans for purchasing and carrying securities, term, agricultural and commercial real estate, equipment loans, and other lending products; and mortgage, commercial and industrial loans, and term and construction finance.