Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.17

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, NASDAQ reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of 0.17 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, May 24th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th.

Hilltop has raised its dividend by an average of 21.1% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 7 years. Hilltop has a payout ratio of 36.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Hilltop to earn $1.80 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.8%.

Hilltop Price Performance

Hilltop stock opened at $30.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.75 and a beta of 1.12. Hilltop has a fifty-two week low of $26.78 and a fifty-two week high of $35.66. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $30.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.95.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $285.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $274.55 million. Hilltop had a net margin of 7.00% and a return on equity of 5.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Hilltop will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HTH. Raymond James raised shares of Hilltop from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. TheStreet lowered shares of Hilltop from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Hill A. Feinberg sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.63, for a total value of $94,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $435,734.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Hilltop news, CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.83, for a total transaction of $924,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 98,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,050,135.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Hill A. Feinberg sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.63, for a total transaction of $94,890.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,776 shares in the company, valued at $435,734.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 28.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hilltop

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Walleye Capital LLC bought a new stake in Hilltop during the first quarter worth about $225,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Hilltop during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $210,000. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Hilltop by 39.2% during the second quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 6,322 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $199,000 after purchasing an additional 1,781 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Hilltop during the first quarter valued at approximately $184,000. Finally, Vestcor Inc bought a new stake in shares of Hilltop during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $150,000. 57.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hilltop Company Profile

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.