Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its holdings in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) by 79.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 106,926 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 404,360 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Hilltop were worth $3,061,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Hilltop in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Hilltop in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Hilltop by 36.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,296 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $106,000 after purchasing an additional 885 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Hilltop in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $185,000. Finally, Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Hilltop in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $203,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hilltop news, CAO Keith E. Bornemann sold 2,500 shares of Hilltop stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total value of $80,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,124 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Martin Bradley Winges sold 30,851 shares of Hilltop stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.61, for a total transaction of $1,006,051.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 77,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,535,362.28. This represents a 28.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 29.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HTH has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Hilltop from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Hilltop from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Hilltop from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.50.

Hilltop Price Performance

Shares of HTH opened at $28.96 on Wednesday. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $26.67 and a one year high of $35.32. The company has a 50-day moving average of $30.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.33. The stock has a market cap of $1.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.77 and a beta of 1.15.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $411.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $302.29 million. Hilltop had a net margin of 6.65% and a return on equity of 4.90%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.57 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Hilltop Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.72%.

Hilltop 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.