Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

Analysts at StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Hilltop (NYSE:HTH – Get Rating) in a report issued on Thursday. The firm set a “hold” rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Hilltop Price Performance

Hilltop stock opened at $29.36 on Thursday. Hilltop has a 1-year low of $24.18 and a 1-year high of $34.87. The company has a market cap of $1.90 billion, a PE ratio of 18.12 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $32.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.36.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $349.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $301.53 million. Hilltop had a return on equity of 5.22% and a net margin of 7.95%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.78 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Hilltop will post 1.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hilltop news, Director Hill A. Feinberg sold 9,001 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.39, for a total transaction of $291,542.39. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 600,135 shares in the company, valued at $19,438,372.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Hill A. Feinberg sold 9,001 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.39, for a total value of $291,542.39. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 600,135 shares in the company, valued at $19,438,372.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jerry Schaffner sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.33, for a total value of $1,333,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 136,763 shares in the company, valued at $4,558,310.79. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 23.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hilltop

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HTH. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Hilltop by 1,330.3% in the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,416 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,317 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. acquired a new position in Hilltop in the fourth quarter valued at $56,000. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Hilltop by 29.5% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in Hilltop by 16.7% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Hilltop by 44.8% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,155 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares during the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hilltop Company Profile

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Hilltop Holdings, Inc engages in the provision of business and consumer banking services. It operates through the following segments: Banking, Broker-Dealer and Mortgage Origination. The Banking segment includes business banking, personal banking, wealth and investment management. The Broker-Dealer segment includes the following lines of business: public finance, capital markets, retail, structured finance, clearing services and securities lending.