Public Sector Pension Investment Board Increases Holdings in Hilltop Holdings Inc. $HTH

Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) by 10.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 171,976 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,683 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned 0.28% of Hilltop worth $5,747,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Hilltop by 404.7% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 14,188 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $431,000 after acquiring an additional 11,377 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Hilltop during the third quarter worth approximately $1,064,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Hilltop by 364.0% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 360,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,943,000 after purchasing an additional 282,852 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hilltop in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,079,000. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hilltop during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $640,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on HTH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Hilltop from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Zacks Research raised shares of Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Hilltop from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hilltop in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.50.

Hilltop Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of Hilltop stock opened at $38.59 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.29 billion, a PE ratio of 14.56 and a beta of 0.94. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.35 and a 52 week high of $40.41. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.39.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $217.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $300.15 million. Hilltop had a net margin of 10.19% and a return on equity of 7.47%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. This is an increase from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio is 30.19%.

Insider Activity at Hilltop

In related news, CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.46, for a total transaction of $999,960.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 65,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,531,860.26. This represents a 28.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Steve B. Thompson sold 9,025 shares of Hilltop stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.84, for a total value of $359,556.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 91,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,657,989.28. This represents a 8.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 37,225 shares of company stock worth $1,436,516. Insiders own 29.90% of the company’s stock.

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.