Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 11,604 Shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) by 4.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 228,609 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 11,604 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Hilltop were worth $7,151,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of HTH. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Hilltop by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 315,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,872,000 after purchasing an additional 21,771 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Hilltop by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,239,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $184,486,000 after acquiring an additional 105,716 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in Hilltop in the first quarter valued at about $1,230,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Hilltop during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $520,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hilltop during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,080,000. 57.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Hilltop from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Stephens increased their price target on Hilltop from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Hilltop from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Hilltop presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hilltop news, Director Hill A. Feinberg sold 17,157 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.99, for a total value of $566,009.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 544,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,978,857.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 28.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hilltop Price Performance

Shares of HTH stock opened at $31.53 on Monday. Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.78 and a 1 year high of $35.66. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.44 and a beta of 1.13.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $297.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $283.22 million. Hilltop had a return on equity of 5.30% and a net margin of 7.10%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Hilltop Holdings Inc. will post 1.36 EPS for the current year.

Hilltop Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.77%.

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.