Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.27 EPS

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.27, Zacks reports. Hilltop had a net margin of 6.65% and a return on equity of 4.90%.

Hilltop Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:HTH opened at $30.13 on Friday. Hilltop has a twelve month low of $26.67 and a twelve month high of $35.32. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $29.75 and its 200-day moving average is $31.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.48 and a beta of 1.15.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 13th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 13th. This is a boost from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.08%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on HTH shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Hilltop from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Hilltop from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Hilltop from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.50.

Insider Activity at Hilltop

In related news, CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 30,851 shares of Hilltop stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Keith E. Bornemann sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total value of $80,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $291,968. This trade represents a 21.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 29.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.