Sapient Capital LLC Acquires New Shares in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN)

Sapient Capital LLC bought a new position in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 13,191 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $168,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 172,069,244 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,789,520,000 after purchasing an additional 1,209,264 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 137,586,195 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,540,965,000 after acquiring an additional 652,310 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 45,744,281 shares of the bank’s stock worth $468,725,000 after acquiring an additional 245,025 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,820,975 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $355,630,000 after acquiring an additional 1,516,892 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 31,327,949 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $350,873,000 after acquiring an additional 232,098 shares in the last quarter. 80.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ HBAN opened at $13.26 on Tuesday. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a 12-month low of $9.13 and a 12-month high of $14.07. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $13.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a market cap of $19.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.11.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 19th. The bank reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.15. Huntington Bancshares had a net margin of 18.00% and a return on equity of 12.96%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.43 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 18th were paid a $0.155 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 15th. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.68%. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on HBAN. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Huntington Bancshares from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 26th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Huntington Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Barclays raised Huntington Bancshares from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $12.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.97.

Insider Transactions at Huntington Bancshares

In related news, Director Ann B. Crane sold 58,000 shares of Huntington Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.54, for a total value of $785,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 192,247 shares in the company, valued at $2,603,024.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Huntington Bancshares news, insider Helga Houston sold 28,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.17, for a total value of $377,979.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 568,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,483,483.74. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ann B. Crane sold 58,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.54, for a total value of $785,320.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 192,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,603,024.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 102,241 shares of company stock worth $1,360,359 over the last 90 days. 0.92% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Huntington Bancshares

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated operates as the bank holding company for The Huntington National Bank that provides commercial, consumer, and mortgage banking services in the United States. The company offers financial products and services to consumer and business customers, including deposits, lending, payments, mortgage banking, dealer financing, investment management, trust, brokerage, insurance, and other financial products and services.