Short Interest in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) Expands By 7.6%

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 881,000 shares, an increase of 7.6% from the November 30th total of 818,600 shares. Currently, 1.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 337,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Hilltop Stock Up 0.6 %

HTH opened at $28.63 on Thursday. Hilltop has a 52 week low of $28.34 and a 52 week high of $35.44. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.49. The company has a market capitalization of $1.86 billion, a PE ratio of 17.56 and a beta of 1.13.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Hilltop will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Hilltop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Hilltop’s payout ratio is 41.72%.

Insider Activity

In other Hilltop news, CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 30,851 shares of Hilltop stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.61, for a total transaction of $1,006,051.11. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 77,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,535,362.28. The trade was a 28.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Keith E. Bornemann sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total transaction of $80,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $291,968. The trade was a 21.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 29.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hilltop

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Hilltop in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in Hilltop in the third quarter worth approximately $49,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Hilltop by 36.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,296 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $106,000 after acquiring an additional 885 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Hilltop in the third quarter worth about $185,000. Finally, Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Hilltop in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $203,000. 57.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HTH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James cut Hilltop from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Hilltop from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Hilltop from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.50.

Hilltop Company Profile

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.