Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 881,000 shares, an increase of 7.6% from the November 30th total of 818,600 shares. Currently, 1.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 337,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hilltop

In other Hilltop news, CAO Keith E. Bornemann sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total value of $80,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $291,968. The trade was a 21.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 30,851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.61, for a total transaction of $1,006,051.11. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 77,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,535,362.28. This trade represents a 28.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 29.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hilltop

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Hilltop by 187.9% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 511,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,443,000 after purchasing an additional 333,695 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 419.7% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 383,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,340,000 after acquiring an additional 309,858 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 90.5% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 592,138 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,043,000 after acquiring an additional 281,230 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Hilltop by 4.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,568,227 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $82,594,000 after acquiring an additional 107,348 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hilltop by 27.2% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 382,430 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,299,000 after acquiring an additional 81,780 shares during the last quarter. 57.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on HTH shares. StockNews.com raised Hilltop from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Raymond James downgraded Hilltop from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Hilltop from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hilltop presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.50.

Hilltop Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE HTH traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $28.63. The stock had a trading volume of 250,177 shares, compared to its average volume of 314,384. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.51. The company has a market cap of $1.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.56 and a beta of 1.13. Hilltop has a 52-week low of $28.34 and a 52-week high of $35.44.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $411.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $302.29 million. Hilltop had a return on equity of 4.90% and a net margin of 6.65%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Hilltop will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Hilltop’s payout ratio is currently 41.72%.

About Hilltop

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.