Short Interest in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) Declines By 5.4%

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 723,700 shares, a decline of 5.4% from the March 15th total of 764,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 311,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days. Currently, 1.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hilltop news, Director Hill A. Feinberg sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.63, for a total transaction of $94,890.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,776 shares in the company, valued at $435,734.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Hilltop news, Director Hill A. Feinberg sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.63, for a total transaction of $94,890.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,776 shares in the company, valued at $435,734.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.83, for a total transaction of $924,900.00. Following 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. 28.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hilltop

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HTH. North Reef Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Hilltop by 46.9% in the third quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 2,525,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $71,609,000 after acquiring an additional 806,091 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Hilltop in the fourth quarter worth about $15,124,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Hilltop by 197.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 751,515 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $22,094,000 after acquiring an additional 498,672 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Hilltop by 523.1% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 551,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,643,000 after buying an additional 463,071 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Hilltop by 111.4% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 704,273 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,776,000 after buying an additional 371,133 shares during the last quarter. 57.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. TheStreet cut shares of Hilltop from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Hilltop from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 5th.

Hilltop Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE HTH opened at $28.65 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $30.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.96. The stock has a market cap of $1.87 billion, a PE ratio of 16.95 and a beta of 1.12. Hilltop has a 12 month low of $26.78 and a 12 month high of $35.66.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.04. Hilltop had a net margin of 7.00% and a return on equity of 5.20%. The company had revenue of $290.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $296.89 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Hilltop will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This is a positive change from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio is 40.24%.

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.