Intech Investment Management LLC Purchases 24,173 Shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH)

Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) by 247.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 33,947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,173 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Hilltop were worth $972,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hilltop by 36.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,296 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $106,000 after buying an additional 885 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Hilltop in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hilltop in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Hilltop by 64.0% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 1,023 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hilltop by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 13,982 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $400,000 after buying an additional 1,196 shares during the period. 57.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HTH. Raymond James cut Hilltop from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective 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.

Hilltop Price Performance

Shares of HTH opened at $30.41 on Friday. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $26.67 and a one year high of $35.32. The company has a market cap of $1.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.48 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.95.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, analysts expect that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 13th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 13th. This is an increase from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.37%. 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.