Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) Raises Dividend to $0.18 Per Share

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 30th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Thursday, February 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.18 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 13th. This is a positive change from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17.

Hilltop has increased its dividend by an average of 12.3% annually over the last three years. Hilltop has a payout ratio of 40.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Hilltop to earn $1.48 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 45.9%.

Hilltop Price Performance

NYSE:HTH traded up $0.33 on Friday, reaching $30.13. 895,831 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 389,602. The firm has a market cap of $1.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.48 and a beta of 1.15. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.23. Hilltop has a 52 week low of $26.67 and a 52 week high of $35.32.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.27. Hilltop had a net margin of 6.65% and a return on equity of 4.90%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Hilltop will post 1.47 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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 dated 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 owns 9,124 shares in the company, valued at approximately $291,968. The trade was a 21.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 30,851 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 77,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,535,362.28. This represents a 28.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 29.30% of the company’s stock.

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.