Huntington Bancshares Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:HBAN)

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 97,130 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 2,098% compared to the average daily volume of 4,420 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on HBAN shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Huntington Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Huntington Bancshares from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Marcy C. Hingst sold 12,832 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.00, for a total transaction of $230,976.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 239,473 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,310,514. This trade represents a 5.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Helga Houston sold 64,587 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.38, for a total transaction of $993,348.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 534,640 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,222,763.20. This trade represents a 10.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 87,863 shares of company stock worth $1,396,634 in the last three months. 0.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Saranac Partners Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth $4,930,000. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd raised its stake in Huntington Bancshares by 3.4% in the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 250,775 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,331,000 after buying an additional 8,360 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new stake in Huntington Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth about $268,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 354,431 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,121,000 after buying an additional 3,448 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth about $3,487,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.72% of the company’s stock.

Huntington Bancshares Trading Up 0.7%

HBAN opened at $17.75 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $16.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Huntington Bancshares has a 12 month low of $11.91 and a 12 month high of $18.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.41, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.96.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 1st. The bank reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Huntington Bancshares had a return on equity of 12.14% and a net margin of 18.06%.The business had revenue of $580.00 million during the quarter. Sell-side analysts expect that Huntington Bancshares will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 18th will be paid a $0.155 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. Huntington Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 43.36%.

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.