StockNews.com Upgrades Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) to Hold

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Friday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $11.00 to $10.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 10th. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $15.00 to $13.00 and set a strong-buy rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 23rd. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a report on Friday, September 29th. They issued a buy rating and a $12.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $12.30.

Huntington Bancshares Price Performance

HBAN stock opened at $11.07 on Friday. Huntington Bancshares has a 52-week low of $9.13 and a 52-week high of $15.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.33, a PEG ratio of 6.11 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $10.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $10.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.89.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 20th. The bank reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.04. Huntington Bancshares had a net margin of 22.55% and a return on equity of 14.71%. The company had revenue of $2.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Huntington Bancshares will post 1.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 18th will be given a $0.155 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 15th. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.60%. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Helga Houston sold 4,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.46, for a total transaction of $44,978.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 595,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,229,076.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Huntington Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Huntington Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at about $216,049,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 359.4% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 18,947,586 shares of the bank’s stock worth $212,213,000 after acquiring an additional 14,823,508 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 33.0% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 29,277,030 shares of the bank’s stock worth $304,439,000 after acquiring an additional 7,271,405 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 28.8% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 29,195,530 shares of the bank’s stock worth $326,990,000 after buying an additional 6,523,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 343.8% during the 2nd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 7,558,107 shares of the bank’s stock worth $81,476,000 after buying an additional 5,854,979 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.68% of the company’s stock.

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 operates through four segments: Consumer and Business Banking; Commercial Banking; Vehicle Finance; and Regional Banking and The Huntington Private Client Group (RBHPCG).