Barclays PLC Grows Position in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH)

Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) by 112.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 106,619 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 56,537 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned 0.16% of Hilltop worth $3,428,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Hilltop in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hilltop during the 2nd quarter worth $69,000. FMR LLC grew its position in Hilltop by 36.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,296 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $106,000 after acquiring an additional 885 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Hilltop in the third quarter valued at $185,000. Finally, Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Hilltop during the third quarter valued at about $203,000. 57.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on HTH. StockNews.com upgraded Hilltop from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Hilltop from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Hilltop from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hilltop currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.50.

Hilltop Stock Performance

NYSE HTH opened at $28.93 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $31.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.54. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $28.44 and a one year high of $35.66. The company has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.75 and a beta of 1.13.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.09. Hilltop had a net margin of 6.65% and a return on equity of 4.90%. The company had revenue of $411.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $302.29 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.57 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Hilltop’s payout ratio is 41.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 30,851 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.61, for a total value of $1,006,051.11. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 77,748 shares in the company, valued at $2,535,362.28. This represents a 28.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Keith E. Bornemann sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total transaction of $80,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $291,968. This trade represents a 21.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 29.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hilltop Company 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.