Marshall Wace LLP Buys New Shares in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN)

Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 1,627,533 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $26,480,000. Marshall Wace LLP owned 0.11% of Huntington Bancshares at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Carlson Capital Management grew its stake in Huntington Bancshares by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Carlson Capital Management now owns 163,575 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,661,000 after purchasing an additional 692 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 12,317 shares of the bank’s stock worth $200,000 after buying an additional 699 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 27.2% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,279 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 702 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 20,019 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $326,000 after acquiring an additional 762 shares during the period. Finally, Lantz Financial LLC boosted its stake in Huntington Bancshares by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 13,766 shares of the bank’s stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 790 shares in the last quarter. 80.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Robert W. Baird raised Huntington Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $18.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on Huntington Bancshares from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $18.50 price target on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.94.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Performance

HBAN stock opened at $13.66 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $19.96 billion, a PE ratio of 11.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50 day moving average of $14.86 and a 200-day moving average of $16.00. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a 12-month low of $11.92 and a 12-month high of $18.45.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.03. Huntington Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 16.23%. The company had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.155 per share. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.54%. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.41%.

Huntington Bancshares declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, April 17th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to purchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Huntington Bancshares

In related news, VP Brendan A. Lawlor sold 3,521 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 owns 47,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $731,237.50. This represents a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 38,451 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.38, for a total value of $552,925.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 335,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,825,036.44. The trade was a 10.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 111,781 shares of company stock valued at $1,631,151 in the last 90 days. 0.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Huntington Bancshares Profile

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.