Empowered Funds LLC Acquires 9,648 Shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH)

Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) by 5.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 189,856 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,648 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Hilltop were worth $6,106,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Hilltop during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Hilltop in the 2nd quarter valued at $69,000. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Hilltop during the 3rd quarter valued at $203,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 91.1% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,902 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Hilltop by 7.4% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 9,407 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $295,000 after buying an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. 57.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HTH has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Hilltop from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Stephens boosted their price objective on Hilltop from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Hilltop from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Hilltop presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.50.

Hilltop Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of HTH stock opened at $31.98 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.62 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $31.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.50. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $28.58 and a 12-month high of $35.66.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $411.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $302.29 million. Hilltop had a return on equity of 4.90% and a net margin of 6.65%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Hilltop’s payout ratio is presently 41.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hilltop

In other Hilltop news, CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 30,851 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 77,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,535,362.28. The trade was a 28.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Hill A. Feinberg sold 17,157 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.99, for a total value of $566,009.43. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 544,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,978,857.21. This trade represents a 3.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 29.30% of the company’s stock.

Hilltop 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.