Balefire LLC Makes New $3.49 Million Investment in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated $HBAN

Balefire LLC acquired a new stake in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 223,114 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $3,492,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in HBAN. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Palisade Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Centennial Bank AR purchased a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 80.7% during the first quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,226 shares of the bank’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 994 shares during the period. Finally, DV Equities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on HBAN. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Huntington Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $21.00 to $19.00 in a report on Monday, July 6th. Barclays cut shares of Huntington Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Huntington Bancshares currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.25.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of HBAN opened at $18.25 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.92. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a 1-year low of $14.89 and a 1-year high of $19.45. The stock has a market cap of $37.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.93.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.57 billion. Huntington Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.42% and a net margin of 16.63%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.34 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 17th were given a dividend of $0.155 per share. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 17th. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.69%.

Insider Transactions at Huntington Bancshares

In other Huntington Bancshares news, EVP Marcy C. Hingst sold 10,568 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.00, for a total value of $190,224.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 267,859 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,821,462. This represents a 3.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director James D. Rollins III sold 223,522 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.35, for a total transaction of $3,878,106.70. Following the sale, the director directly owned 612,155 shares in the company, valued at $10,620,889.25. This represents a 26.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have purchased 33,500 shares of company stock valued at $617,542. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Huntington Bancshares Company Profile

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.