Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) Reaches New 52-Week Low – Here’s Why

Shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $28.44 and last traded at $28.70, with a volume of 14699 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.71.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Hilltop Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.64 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $31.56 and a 200 day moving average of $31.55.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $411.49 million for 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 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.72%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Keith E. Bornemann sold 2,500 shares of Hilltop stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total transaction of $80,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,124 shares in the company, valued at $291,968. This trade represents a 21.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 30,851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 approximately $2,535,362.28. This represents a 28.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 29.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hilltop

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new position in Hilltop during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Hilltop during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hilltop in the second quarter valued at $69,000. FMR LLC increased its position in Hilltop by 36.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,296 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $106,000 after purchasing an additional 885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Hilltop during the third quarter valued at $185,000. 57.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.