Benjamin Edwards Inc. Purchases New Shares in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new position in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 8,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $268,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 187.9% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 511,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,443,000 after buying an additional 333,695 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Hilltop by 419.7% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 383,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,340,000 after acquiring an additional 309,858 shares during the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hilltop during the second quarter worth approximately $1,408,000. King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Hilltop by 43.2% during the second quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 116,099 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,632,000 after purchasing an additional 35,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP increased its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 171.4% in the third quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 34,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,100,000 after purchasing an additional 21,600 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Hilltop

In related news, CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 30,851 shares of the company’s 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 completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Keith E. Bornemann sold 2,500 shares of Hilltop stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total value of $80,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,124 shares in the company, valued at approximately $291,968. This represents a 21.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 29.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Hilltop from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Hilltop from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Hilltop currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.50.

Hilltop Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HTH opened at $32.01 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.55. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.58 and a fifty-two week high of $35.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.64 and a beta of 1.13.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $411.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $302.29 million. Hilltop had a return on equity of 4.90% and a net margin of 6.65%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.72%.

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.