Huntington Bancshares Incorporated $HBAN Shares Purchased by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) by 241.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,372,888 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 971,162 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Huntington Bancshares were worth $23,820,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HBAN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,319,041 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,319,385,000 after acquiring an additional 14,338,222 shares during the last quarter. Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares in the third quarter valued at about $85,690,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Huntington Bancshares by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 34,230,988 shares of the bank’s stock worth $594,054,000 after purchasing an additional 4,640,302 shares during the period. Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich acquired a new position in Huntington Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth $73,333,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 48.0% during the 3rd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 9,676,829 shares of the bank’s stock worth $167,119,000 after purchasing an additional 3,138,669 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays cut Huntington Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Wolfe Research cut their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. UBS Group set a $21.00 price target on Huntington Bancshares in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Huntington Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.05.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of HBAN stock opened at $15.92 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a market cap of $32.27 billion, a PE ratio of 12.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.74. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a 52 week low of $14.89 and a 52 week high of $19.45.

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

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 17th will be given a $0.155 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 17th. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.69%.

Insider Transactions at Huntington Bancshares

In related news, Director James D. Rollins III bought 3,029 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $21.05 per share, for a total transaction of $63,760.45. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $199,975. This represents a 46.81% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Prashant Nateri sold 10,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.50, for a total value of $157,650.50. Following the sale, the insider owned 83,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,299,194.50. The trade was a 10.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders purchased 25,000 shares of company stock valued at $503,822 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

About Huntington Bancshares

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.