Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 958,000 shares, a decrease of 8.8% from the January 15th total of 1,050,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 353,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on HTH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Hilltop from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James cut shares of Hilltop from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Hilltop has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hilltop news, CAO Keith E. Bornemann sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total value of $80,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,124 shares in the company, valued at $291,968. This represents a 21.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 29.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in Hilltop by 61.4% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 48,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,556,000 after buying an additional 18,415 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in Hilltop by 53.1% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 70,905 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,280,000 after buying an additional 24,591 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Hilltop by 4.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,568,227 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $82,594,000 after buying an additional 107,348 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Hilltop by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,056,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,991,000 after buying an additional 17,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP raised its holdings in Hilltop by 171.4% in the third quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 34,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,100,000 after buying an additional 21,600 shares during the last quarter. 57.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hilltop Stock Performance

Shares of HTH stock traded up $0.05 on Tuesday, hitting $31.61. 433,204 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 409,868. Hilltop has a one year low of $26.67 and a one year high of $35.32. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.17 and a beta of 1.14.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.27. Hilltop had a net margin of 7.04% and a return on equity of 5.18%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hilltop will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 13th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is a boost from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 13th. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.38%.

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.