Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Strong Sell”

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report released on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Hilltop from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Hilltop from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings raised Hilltop from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Zacks Research lowered shares of Hilltop from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Hilltop in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Hilltop has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.00.

Hilltop Stock Down 2.5%

Shares of Hilltop stock opened at $36.33 on Friday. Hilltop has a 52 week low of $31.75 and a 52 week high of $40.41. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.04. The company has a market capitalization of $2.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.53 and a beta of 0.89.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.64 by ($0.20). Hilltop had a net margin of 9.08% and a return on equity of 6.47%. The company had revenue of $309.51 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $320.37 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.74 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Hilltop will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Rhodes Bobbitt sold 20,000 shares of Hilltop stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.12, for a total value of $802,400.00. Following the sale, the director owned 56,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,250,571.52. The trade was a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 52,555 shares of company stock worth $2,087,714. 5.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hilltop

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HTH. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Hilltop in the second quarter valued at approximately $256,179,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Hilltop in the second quarter valued at about $13,091,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hilltop in the second quarter worth about $10,357,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Hilltop during the 2nd quarter valued at about $9,573,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Hilltop by 159.3% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 211,095 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,561,000 after acquiring an additional 129,683 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

Key Hilltop News

Here are the key news stories impacting Hilltop this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Hilltop maintained its quarterly dividend at $0.22 per share, equivalent to $0.88 annually and a yield of approximately 2.4%. The dividend is payable November 20 to shareholders of record on November 6. Hilltop Holdings Announces Q3 2026 Earnings and Declares Quarterly Dividend
• Positive Sentiment: Net interest income increased to $122.4 million from $112.4 million a year earlier, while net interest margin improved to 3.33% from 3.21% in the prior quarter. Hilltop also repurchased 512,075 shares for $20 million, signaling continued capital returns. Hilltop Holdings Announces Third-Quarter Financial Results
• Neutral Sentiment: Management’s earnings call and presentation may provide further detail on credit quality, mortgage activity, and the outlook. Mortgage loan originations were $2.2 billion, modestly below $2.3 billion a year earlier. Hilltop Holdings Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Profitability weakened broadly: income attributable to common stockholders dropped to $24.9 million from $45.8 million, noninterest income declined 14.1% to $187.1 million, and the company recorded a $10.2 million provision for credit losses, compared with a $2.5 million reversal last year. Hilltop Holdings Q3 Earnings and Revenues Miss Estimates

About Hilltop

Hilltop Holdings Inc (NYSE: HTH) is a Dallas-based financial services holding company. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company provides commercial and consumer banking, mortgage lending, and securities brokerage and investment-banking services.

PlainsCapital Bank is Hilltop’s banking subsidiary and serves businesses, professionals, and individuals primarily in Texas. Its offerings include commercial and real estate lending, deposit accounts, treasury management, wealth management, and other banking services.

Hilltop also operates PrimeLending, a residential mortgage lender that originates home loans through a network of loan officers and offices across the United States.