Cullen Investment Group LTD. Takes $363,000 Position in First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. acquired a new stake in First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 25,660 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $363,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Phocas Financial Corp. increased its holdings in shares of First Horizon by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Phocas Financial Corp. now owns 410,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,813,000 after acquiring an additional 7,097 shares during the last quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of First Horizon in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,019,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of First Horizon in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,222,000. Aquila Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Horizon in the 4th quarter valued at about $991,000. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Horizon in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.28% of the company’s stock.

First Horizon Stock Down 1.2 %

First Horizon stock opened at $14.03 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.94. First Horizon Co. has a 1-year low of $8.99 and a 1-year high of $18.99. The company has a market cap of $7.79 billion, a PE ratio of 9.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $14.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.31.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.01. First Horizon had a return on equity of 9.94% and a net margin of 17.80%. The firm had revenue of $1.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $784.20 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that First Horizon Co. will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Horizon announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, January 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $650.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.7% 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.

First Horizon Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.28%. First Horizon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FHN. Raymond James raised First Horizon from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $13.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Barclays began coverage on First Horizon in a research report on Friday, March 8th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $18.00 target price for the company. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $17.00 target price on shares of First Horizon in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on First Horizon from $16.00 to $17.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised First Horizon from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $16.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $16.00.

About First Horizon

First Horizon Corporation operates as the bank holding company for First Horizon Bank that provides various financial services. The company operates through Regional Banking and Specialty Banking segments. It offers general banking services for consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments.