Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC Purchases 23,200 Shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN)

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC raised its position in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) by 76.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 53,415 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,200 shares during the period. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Huntington Bancshares were worth $680,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at $216,049,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 359.4% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 18,947,586 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $212,213,000 after purchasing an additional 14,823,508 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 33.0% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 29,277,030 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $304,439,000 after purchasing an additional 7,271,405 shares in the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 2,536.9% in the first quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 5,936,016 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,483,000 after purchasing an additional 5,710,903 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 23.7% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,925,067 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $186,421,000 after purchasing an additional 3,438,552 shares in the last quarter. 80.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Huntington Bancshares

In other Huntington Bancshares news, Director Ann B. Crane sold 58,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.54, for a total transaction of $785,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 192,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,603,024.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Ann B. Crane sold 58,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.54, for a total value of $785,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 192,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,603,024.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Helga Houston sold 28,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.17, for a total value of $377,979.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 568,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,483,483.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 102,241 shares of company stock valued at $1,360,359 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Raymond James boosted their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Huntington Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $14.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com cut Huntington Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Huntington Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $14.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.97.

Huntington Bancshares Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ HBAN traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $13.28. The company had a trading volume of 39,981,446 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,462,811. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a one year low of $9.13 and a one year high of $14.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $13.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.13. The stock has a market cap of $19.26 billion, a PE ratio of 10.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.11.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.03. Huntington Bancshares had a return on equity of 12.96% and a net margin of 18.00%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.155 per share. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.67%. Huntington Bancshares’s payout ratio is 50.00%.

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.