Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) Receives “Equal Weight” Rating from Stephens

Stephens restated their equal weight rating on shares of Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $16.50 target price on the bank’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on HBAN. Baird R W raised Huntington Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $18.50 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Robert W. Baird raised Huntington Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $18.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $17.50 to $17.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Huntington Bancshares currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.61.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Down 1.5 %

Huntington Bancshares stock opened at $13.47 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.02. Huntington Bancshares has a twelve month low of $11.92 and a twelve month high of $18.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.03. Huntington Bancshares had a net margin of 16.23% and a return on equity of 11.23%. The company had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Huntington Bancshares will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, April 17th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the bank to repurchase up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.155 per share. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.60%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. Huntington Bancshares’s payout ratio is 47.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Brendan A. Lawlor sold 3,521 shares of Huntington Bancshares stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.25, for a total transaction of $53,695.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 47,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $731,237.50. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 38,451 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.38, for a total value of $552,925.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 335,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,825,036.44. This represents a 10.28 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 111,781 shares of company stock valued at $1,631,151 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Huntington Bancshares

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HBAN. Arvest Bank Trust Division purchased a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,381,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares in the third quarter worth $1,389,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 3.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,797,771 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $27,901,000 after acquiring an additional 55,602 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Huntington Bancshares by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,743,357 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,627,000 after purchasing an additional 112,146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,656 shares of the bank’s stock worth $645,000 after purchasing an additional 3,668 shares during the last quarter. 80.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Huntington Bancshares Company Profile

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.