Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) Declares $0.17 Quarterly Dividend

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, NASDAQ reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.17 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, May 24th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th.

Hilltop has increased its dividend by an average of 21.1% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 7 consecutive years. Hilltop has a payout ratio of 36.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Hilltop to earn $1.80 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.8%.

Hilltop Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HTH traded up $0.95 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $30.00. The stock had a trading volume of 605,305 shares, compared to its average volume of 311,891. Hilltop has a 1 year low of $26.78 and a 1 year high of $35.66. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $30.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.94. The firm has a market cap of $1.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.20 and a beta of 1.12.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $285.24 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $274.55 million. Hilltop had a net margin of 7.00% and a return on equity of 5.20%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Hilltop will post 1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Hilltop

In other news, Director Hill A. Feinberg sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.63, for a total value of $94,890.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $435,734.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Hill A. Feinberg sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.63, for a total value of $94,890.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $435,734.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.83, for a total transaction of $924,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 98,934 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,050,135.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 28.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hilltop

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HTH. Norges Bank bought a new position in Hilltop during the 4th quarter valued at about $15,124,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Hilltop by 197.2% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 751,515 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,094,000 after acquiring an additional 498,672 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Hilltop by 111.4% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 704,273 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,776,000 after acquiring an additional 371,133 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Hilltop by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,571,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $105,004,000 after acquiring an additional 291,456 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in Hilltop during the 1st quarter valued at about $8,184,000. Institutional investors own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on HTH shares. Raymond James raised shares of Hilltop from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Hilltop from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th.

About Hilltop

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.