First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.01, RTT News reports. The firm had revenue of $819.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $809.51 million. First Horizon had a return on equity of 8.96% and a net margin of 16.07%. The company’s revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS.

First Horizon Price Performance

Shares of FHN stock opened at $14.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.96. First Horizon has a fifty-two week low of $8.99 and a fifty-two week high of $18.99. The firm has a market cap of $7.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.99, a P/E/G ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $14.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.34.

First Horizon Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given 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 4.20%. First Horizon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.96%.

First Horizon announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program 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 programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FHN. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $17.00 price objective on shares of First Horizon in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Raymond James raised First Horizon from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $13.00 to $17.00 in a report on Friday, January 5th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on First Horizon from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on First Horizon from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut First Horizon from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, First Horizon has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $16.15.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Horizon

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FHN. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of First Horizon during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $133,345,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of First Horizon by 15.7% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,368,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $418,736,000 after purchasing an additional 3,173,357 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of First Horizon by 62.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,302,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $101,070,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657,018 shares in the last quarter. Davide Leone & Partners Investment Co Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of First Horizon during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,744,000. Finally, North Reef Capital Management LP raised its stake in First Horizon by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 10,162,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $143,901,000 after buying an additional 1,262,500 shares during the last quarter. 80.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.