Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) Major Shareholder Gerald Ford Sells 259,771 Shares

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) major shareholder Gerald Ford sold 259,771 shares of Hilltop stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.98, for a total transaction of $9,866,102.58. Following the sale, the insider owned 7,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $298,788.66. The trade was a 97.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Major shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Hilltop Price Performance

Shares of HTH stock opened at $36.74 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.87 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.98. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $27.35 and a one year high of $40.41.

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

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This is a boost from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.19%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HTH. Corient Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hilltop during the 4th quarter worth $304,000. Lexington Hill Partners LLC bought a new position in Hilltop in the fourth quarter worth about $354,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of Hilltop by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 97,482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,309,000 after buying an additional 4,924 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Hilltop by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 250,228 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,493,000 after buying an additional 12,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Hilltop in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,660,000. 57.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. Zacks Research downgraded Hilltop from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hilltop in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Hilltop from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hilltop has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.50.

About Hilltop

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.