Hilltop Holdings Inc. $HTH Shares Sold by AlphaQuest LLC

Key Points

• AlphaQuest LLC has reduced its stake in Hilltop Holdings Inc. by 78.1%, now holding 12,507 shares worth $381,000 after selling 44,696 shares in the first quarter.
• Hilltop Holdings recently reported earnings of $0.57 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, with revenue for the quarter at $303.31 million.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.18 per share, scheduled for payment on August 29th, representing an annualized yield of 2.0%.

AlphaQuest LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH - Free Report) by 78.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,507 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 44,696 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC's holdings in Hilltop were worth $381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Hilltop by 4,242.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 17,631 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $579,000 after purchasing an additional 17,225 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Hilltop by 54.0% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 16,012 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $488,000 after purchasing an additional 5,613 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 18.7% in the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,111 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $95,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of Hilltop in the first quarter valued at about $491,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Hilltop by 26.1% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 68,768 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,969,000 after acquiring an additional 14,215 shares in the last quarter. 57.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Hilltop

In other news, Chairman Jonathan S. Sobel bought 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $35.36 per share, with a total value of $353,600.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chairman directly owned 127,429 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,505,889.44. This trade represents a 8.52% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders bought a total of 60,000 shares of company stock worth $2,022,800 over the last three months. Insiders own 29.90% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded Hilltop from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $32.00.

Hilltop Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of HTH stock traded down $0.08 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $35.12. 637,443 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 497,945. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.67 and a 1 year high of $35.63. The stock has a market cap of $2.21 billion, a PE ratio of 15.75 and a beta of 0.87. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $31.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.58.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.16. Hilltop had a return on equity of 6.46% and a net margin of 8.90%.The business had revenue of $303.31 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $310.18 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Hilltop's payout ratio is 32.29%.

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.