Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) Declares $0.20 Quarterly Dividend

Key Points

• Hilltop declared a $0.20 quarterly dividend (ex-dividend May 8, payable May 22), equal to $0.80 annually with a 2.1% yield; the bank has raised its dividend for eight consecutive years and its 43.5% payout ratio is expected to fall to about 34.5% based on analysts' $2.32 EPS forecast for next year.
• Q1 results were mixed: Hilltop beat EPS estimates with $0.64 versus $0.54 but reported revenue of $184.3M well below expectations; the stock trades near $38 with a 14.35 P/E and carries an average analyst rating of "Hold" with a $37.50 consensus target.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th will be paid a dividend of 0.20 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, May 22nd. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 8th.

Hilltop has increased its dividend by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 8 consecutive years. Hilltop has a dividend payout ratio of 43.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Hilltop to earn $2.32 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.5%.

Hilltop Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of HTH stock opened at $38.03 on Friday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $36.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.38. The stock has a market cap of $2.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.35 and a beta of 0.92. Hilltop has a twelve month low of $28.43 and a twelve month high of $40.41.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.10. Hilltop had a net margin of 10.19% and a return on equity of 7.47%. The company had revenue of $184.29 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $304.87 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Hilltop will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of Hilltop from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Hilltop from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Hilltop from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Hilltop in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $37.50.

Hilltop Company Profile

Hilltop Holdings, Inc NYSE: HTH is a Dallas, Texas–based financial holding company offering commercial banking, mortgage lending and capital markets services through its three primary subsidiaries: PlainsCapital Corporation, PrimeLending and HilltopSecurities. PlainsCapital provides deposit, lending and treasury management solutions to small and mid-sized businesses, professionals and individuals. PrimeLending specializes in home purchase and refinance loans, serving retail, wholesale and correspondent channels.

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