GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. Makes New $195,000 Investment in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN)

GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. purchased a new position in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 15,331 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $195,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new position in Huntington Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at $167,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 76,738 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $976,000 after buying an additional 13,357 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in Huntington Bancshares by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 48,717 shares of the bank’s stock worth $620,000 after acquiring an additional 4,155 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Huntington Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at $180,000. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 125.5% in the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 67,978 shares of the bank’s stock worth $865,000 after acquiring an additional 37,828 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Huntington Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $14.00 to $16.00 in a report on Monday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Huntington Bancshares from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group raised shares of Huntington Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Huntington Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $14.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $15.17.

Insider Transactions at Huntington Bancshares

In other news, VP Julie C. Tutkovics sold 15,541 shares of Huntington Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.68, for a total transaction of $197,059.88. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 303,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,847,809.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Julie C. Tutkovics sold 15,541 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.68, for a total value of $197,059.88. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 303,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,847,809.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Rajeev Syal sold 11,627 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.67, for a total transaction of $158,941.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 329,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,505,727.69. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 208,381 shares of company stock worth $2,814,291. Company insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of HBAN traded up $0.12 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $13.92. The stock had a trading volume of 8,719,175 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,340,047. The company has a market cap of $20.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.43, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $13.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a 1-year low of $9.13 and a 1-year high of $14.07.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.03. Huntington Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.99% and a net margin of 15.86%. The firm had revenue of $2.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a $0.155 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.45%. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.86%.

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.