Freestone Grove Partners LP Invests $599,000 in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN)

Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 36,818 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $599,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HBAN. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC increased its position in Huntington Bancshares by 17,533.3% during the 4th quarter. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC now owns 1,587 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,578 shares during the period. Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 126.8% during the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 1,830 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,023 shares in the last quarter. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Transce3nd LLC bought a new position in Huntington Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth about $48,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC lifted its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 70.0% in the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 3,061 shares of the bank’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 1,260 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HBAN has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Barclays increased their price objective on Huntington Bancshares from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $17.50 to $17.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Huntington Bancshares presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Huntington Bancshares news, VP Brendan A. Lawlor sold 3,521 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.25, for a total value of $53,695.25. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 47,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $731,237.50. This trade represents a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Helga Houston sold 42,345 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.72, for a total transaction of $623,318.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 592,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,715,991.68. The trade was a 6.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 312,456 shares of company stock valued at $4,464,105. Company insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Up 3.1 %

HBAN stock opened at $15.08 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a 1-year low of $11.92 and a 1-year high of $18.45. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $14.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.97.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. Huntington Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 16.23%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a $0.155 dividend. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.33%.

Huntington Bancshares announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, April 17th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to purchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.