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

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th.

Hilltop has increased its dividend payment by an average of 21.1% per year 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% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Trading Up 3.3 %

Shares of NYSE HTH traded up $0.95 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $30.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 605,305 shares, compared to its average volume of 311,891. Hilltop has a fifty-two week low of $26.78 and a fifty-two week high of $35.66. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.20 and a beta of 1.12.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Activity

In other 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 value of $924,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 98,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,050,135.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.83, for a total transaction of $924,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 98,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,050,135.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Hill A. Feinberg sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now owns 13,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $435,734.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 28.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hilltop

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Hilltop by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,551,143 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $192,605,000 after acquiring an additional 109,157 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Hilltop by 8.9% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,571,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $105,004,000 after purchasing an additional 291,456 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Hilltop by 0.6% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,567,251 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,077,000 after purchasing an additional 8,634 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Hilltop by 2.9% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 904,157 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,826,000 after purchasing an additional 25,268 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Hilltop by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 900,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,460,000 after purchasing an additional 50,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

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.