Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) Upgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $15.00 to $17.50 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a report on Thursday. Citigroup increased their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $16.25 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Huntington Bancshares has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.41.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of HBAN stock opened at $17.17 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $16.60 and a 200-day moving average of $14.82. Huntington Bancshares has a one year low of $11.77 and a one year high of $18.44. The stock has a market cap of $24.94 billion, a PE ratio of 16.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.86 billion. Huntington Bancshares had a net margin of 14.19% and a return on equity of 10.72%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Huntington Bancshares will post 1.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Huntington Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th will be paid a $0.155 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Huntington Bancshares news, VP Scott D. Kleinman sold 28,600 shares of Huntington Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.67, for a total value of $505,362.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 496,076 shares in the company, valued at $8,765,662.92. The trade was a 5.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 8,644 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.63, for a total transaction of $152,393.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 259,943 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,582,795.09. This trade represents a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 43,699 shares of company stock valued at $757,356. 0.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Huntington Bancshares

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,580 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $245,000 after acquiring an additional 868 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 26.7% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 133,649 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,761,000 after purchasing an additional 28,174 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 354.9% during the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 3,325 shares of the bank’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 2,594 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 2.3% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 230,854 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,043,000 after buying an additional 5,261 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 54,287 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $716,000 after buying an additional 814 shares during the last quarter. 80.72% of the stock is currently 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.