Huntington Bancshares’ (HBAN) “Equal Weight” Rating Reiterated at Stephens

Stephens restated their equal weight rating on shares of Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) in a research report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $15.00 target price on the bank’s stock.

HBAN has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of Huntington Bancshares from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Huntington Bancshares from a neutral rating to a buy rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $15.50 in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Huntington Bancshares presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $15.17.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Performance

HBAN opened at $13.76 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $19.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.40, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.11. Huntington Bancshares has a 52-week low of $9.13 and a 52-week high of $14.07. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $13.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.22.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last posted its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.74 billion. Huntington Bancshares had a net margin of 15.86% and a return on equity of 11.99%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Huntington Bancshares will post 1.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a $0.155 dividend. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.86%.

Insider Activity at Huntington Bancshares

In related news, Director Ann B. Crane sold 58,000 shares of Huntington Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $2,603,024.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Helga Houston sold 28,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.17, for a total transaction of $377,979.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 568,222 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,483,483.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ann B. Crane sold 58,000 shares of the business’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 sale, the director now owns 192,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,603,024.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 102,241 shares of company stock worth $1,360,359. Corporate insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Huntington Bancshares

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HBAN. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 59.3% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 46,642,476 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $593,408,000 after acquiring an additional 17,365,446 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at $206,703,000. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 715.0% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,251,631 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $54,081,000 after acquiring an additional 3,729,974 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 23.7% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,925,067 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $186,421,000 after acquiring an additional 3,438,552 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in Huntington Bancshares by 641.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 2,775,356 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $35,301,000 after buying an additional 2,401,067 shares during the period. 80.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.