Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $663,000 Investment in Hilltop Holdings Inc. $HTH

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 18,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $663,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Hilltop in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hilltop by 584.7% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 918 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Hilltop by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 313 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in shares of Hilltop during the 3rd quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 36.2% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,817 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 483 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

Hilltop Stock Up 0.2%

Hilltop stock traded up $0.09 on Tuesday, hitting $38.69. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,297 shares, compared to its average volume of 349,383. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $29.20 and a one year high of $40.41. The firm has a market cap of $2.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.65 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $37.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.94.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.10. Hilltop had a net margin of 10.13% and a return on equity of 7.32%. The business had revenue of $300.51 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $304.87 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Hilltop Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.30%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on HTH shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Hilltop from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Hilltop from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. One equities research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.50.

Insider Activity

In other Hilltop news, Director Rhodes R. Bobbitt sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.00, for a total value of $380,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 87,016 shares in the company, valued at $3,306,608. The trade was a 10.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Keith E. Bornemann sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.00, for a total transaction of $76,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,912 shares in the company, valued at $300,656. This represents a 20.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 32,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,206,000 over the last three months. 5.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Hilltop

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.