AlphaQuest LLC Grows Stake in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH)

AlphaQuest LLC grew its position in shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) by 18.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 57,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,810 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Hilltop worth $1,638,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 107,348 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 17,477 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Hilltop by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 826,187 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,654,000 after acquiring an additional 32,127 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Hilltop by 90.5% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 592,138 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,043,000 after acquiring an additional 281,230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Hilltop by 20.7% in the fourth quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 522,503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,959,000 after acquiring an additional 89,724 shares in the last quarter. 57.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Hilltop Stock Up 0.4 %

Hilltop stock opened at $31.71 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.06 billion, a PE ratio of 18.22 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.09. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.67 and a twelve month high of $35.32.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, equities analysts expect that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 13th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. This is an increase from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 13th. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio is 41.38%.

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.