Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) Downgraded by Raymond James to “Underperform”

Raymond James lowered shares of Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) from a market perform rating to an underperform rating in a research note published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports.

HTH has been the subject of several other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Hilltop from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of 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 issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Hilltop presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.50.

Hilltop Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HTH opened at $28.84 on Thursday. Hilltop has a 1 year low of $28.58 and a 1 year high of $35.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $31.61 and a 200 day moving average of $31.55. The stock has a market cap of $1.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.69 and a beta of 1.13.

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

Hilltop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Keith E. Bornemann sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $291,968. This represents a 21.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 30,851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.61, for a total value of $1,006,051.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 77,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,535,362.28. This trade represents a 28.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 29.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HTH. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Hilltop in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new position in Hilltop in the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Hilltop during the 3rd quarter worth $49,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hilltop during the 2nd quarter valued at $69,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 885 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

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.