Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $20.5952.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on HBAN. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Huntington Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a report on Monday, January 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, National Bank Financial set a $21.00 price objective on Huntington Bancshares in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th.

Huntington Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of Huntington Bancshares stock opened at $17.08 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $34.67 billion, a PE ratio of 12.29, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $17.85 and a 200 day moving average of $17.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Huntington Bancshares has a 12 month low of $11.91 and a 12 month high of $19.45.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.21 billion. Huntington Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.98% and a net margin of 17.71%.During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.34 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Huntington Bancshares will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.155 per share. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 18th. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Brantley J. Standridge sold 5,830 shares of Huntington Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.14, for a total transaction of $111,586.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 327,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,271,718.64. The trade was a 1.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Kendall A. Kowalski sold 2,481 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.80, for a total transaction of $44,161.80. Following the transaction, the insider owned 71,566 shares in the company, valued at $1,273,874.80. The trade was a 3.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 50,145 shares of company stock valued at $929,885 over the last 90 days. 0.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of HBAN. MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Huntington Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Palisade Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Huntington Bancshares in the third quarter worth $26,000. South Plains Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 116.3% during the third quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 1,536 shares of the bank’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centennial Bank AR purchased a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.72% of the company’s stock.

About Huntington Bancshares

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ: HBAN) is a bank holding company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, that provides a broad range of banking and financial services through its principal subsidiary, Huntington National Bank. The company’s operations are centered on retail and commercial banking, and it serves individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses, and institutional customers.

Huntington’s product offerings include traditional deposit and lending products, consumer and commercial loans, mortgage origination and servicing, auto financing, and business banking solutions.