Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP Buys 4,044 Shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH)

Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP increased its position in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) by 37.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 14,764 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,044 shares during the quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP’s holdings in Hilltop were worth $475,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Hilltop during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Hilltop during the 2nd quarter worth about $69,000. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Hilltop during the 3rd quarter valued at about $203,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Hilltop during the 3rd quarter valued at about $270,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hilltop in the 3rd quarter valued at about $314,000. 57.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Keith E. Bornemann sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total value of $80,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,124 shares in the company, valued at $291,968. This trade represents a 21.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Hill A. Feinberg sold 17,157 shares of Hilltop stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.99, for a total value of $566,009.43. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 544,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,978,857.21. This represents a 3.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 50,508 shares of company stock valued at $1,652,061. 29.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HTH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Hilltop from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Stephens lifted their price target on Hilltop from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.50.

Hilltop Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of Hilltop stock opened at $32.15 on Wednesday. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $28.58 and a 52-week high of $35.66. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $31.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.54. The company has a market cap of $2.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.74 and a beta of 1.14.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.09. Hilltop had a net margin of 6.65% and a return on equity of 4.90%. The business had revenue of $411.49 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $302.29 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.72%.

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.