Wall Street Zen Downgrades Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) to Sell

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Hilltop from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Zacks Research upgraded Hilltop from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Hilltop from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.50.

Hilltop Price Performance

HTH stock opened at $36.28 on Friday. Hilltop has a 1-year low of $28.92 and a 1-year high of $40.41. The company has a market capitalization of $2.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.74 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.89.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.10. Hilltop had a return on equity of 7.32% and a net margin of 10.13%.The business had revenue of $300.51 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $304.87 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Hilltop will post 2.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hilltop news, CAO Keith E. Bornemann sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.00, for a total value of $76,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 7,912 shares in the company, valued at $300,656. This trade represents a 20.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Gerald J. Ford sold 259,771 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.98, for a total value of $9,866,102.58. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 7,867 shares in the company, valued at approximately $298,788.66. The trade was a 97.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 271,771 shares of company stock worth $10,314,603 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 29.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hilltop

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HTH. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hilltop during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Hilltop by 584.7% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 918 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Hilltop by 37.3% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 313 shares during the period. Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in shares of Hilltop during the third quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Hilltop by 42.7% during the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 399 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

Hilltop Company Profile

Hilltop Holdings, Inc (NYSE: HTH) is a Dallas, Texas–based financial holding company offering commercial banking, mortgage lending and capital markets services through its three primary subsidiaries: PlainsCapital Corporation, PrimeLending and HilltopSecurities. PlainsCapital provides deposit, lending and treasury management solutions to small and mid-sized businesses, professionals and individuals. PrimeLending specializes in home purchase and refinance loans, serving retail, wholesale and correspondent channels.