Ieq Capital LLC Invests $3.96 Million in Hilltop Holdings Inc. $HTH

Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new position in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 102,137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,961,000. Ieq Capital LLC owned about 0.18% of Hilltop as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in shares of Hilltop by 156.7% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 81,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,772,000 after buying an additional 49,859 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Hilltop by 39.8% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 286,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,247,000 after acquiring an additional 81,448 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Hilltop by 43.3% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 165,263 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,920,000 after acquiring an additional 49,900 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Hilltop by 53.5% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 84,304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,020,000 after acquiring an additional 29,395 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Hilltop by 6.2% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 265,731 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,518,000 after acquiring an additional 15,503 shares during the last quarter. 57.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HTH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Hilltop from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Hilltop in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Hilltop from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hilltop in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Hilltop from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.00.

Hilltop Stock Performance

Hilltop stock opened at $38.71 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.34 and a beta of 0.89. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.78 and a 52-week high of $40.41. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $38.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.81.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $315.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $306.18 million. Hilltop had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 7.40%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.57 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 2.59 EPS for the current year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.59%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Rhodes R. Bobbitt sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.12, for a total transaction of $802,400.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 56,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,250,571.52. This represents a 26.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 52,555 shares of company stock worth $2,079,714. 5.40% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.