15. Stock-Based Compensation

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During the nine months ended September 30, 2026 and 2025, Hilltop granted 13,840 and 19,858 shares of common stock, respectively, pursuant to the Hilltop Holdings Inc. 2020 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2020 Equity Plan”) to certain non-employee members of the Company’s board of directors for services rendered to the Company.

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Restricted Stock Units

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The following table summarizes information about stock-based incentive awards issued pursuant to the 2020 Equity Plan and nonvested restricted stock unit (“RSU”) activity for the nine months ended September 30, 2026 (shares in thousands).

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Vested/Released RSUs include an aggregate of 70,246 shares withheld to satisfy employee statutory tax obligations during the nine months ended September 30, 2026.

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During the nine months ended September 30, 2026, the Compensation Committee of the board of directors of the Company awarded certain executives and key employees an aggregate of 341,873 RSUs pursuant to the 2020 Equity Plan. Of the RSUs granted during the nine months ended September 30, 2026, 249,858 that were outstanding at September 30, 2026, are subject to time-based vesting conditions and generally cliff vest on the third anniversary of the grant date. Of the RSUs granted during the nine months ended September 30, 2026, 84,325 that were outstanding at

September 30, 2026, provide for cliff vesting based upon the achievement of certain performance goals over a three-year period.

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At September 30, 2026, in the aggregate, 822,292 of the outstanding RSUs are subject to time-based vesting conditions and generally cliff vest on the third anniversary of the grant date, and 282,171 outstanding RSUs cliff vest based upon the achievement of certain performance goals over a three-year period. At September 30, 2026, unrecognized compensation expense related to outstanding RSUs of $18.6 million is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of 1.32 years.