Freestone Grove Partners LP Takes Position in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN)

Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 36,818 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $599,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 220.9% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,666,949 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $59,661,000 after buying an additional 2,524,077 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its stake in Huntington Bancshares by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 850,139 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,832,000 after acquiring an additional 129,106 shares during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd purchased a new stake in Huntington Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at about $422,000. Donoghue Forlines LLC bought a new position in Huntington Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth about $1,460,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 3.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,797,771 shares of the bank’s stock worth $27,901,000 after purchasing an additional 55,602 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.72% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Huntington Bancshares news, insider Kendall A. Kowalski sold 25,419 shares of Huntington Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.68, for a total value of $347,731.92. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 70,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $961,444.08. The trade was a 26.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 38,451 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.38, for a total value of $552,925.38. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,825,036.44. This trade represents a 10.28 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 312,456 shares of company stock valued at $4,464,105 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on HBAN. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Huntington Bancshares from $18.50 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Huntington Bancshares from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Argus set a $17.00 price target on Huntington Bancshares in a research report on Friday, April 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.45.

Huntington Bancshares Price Performance

HBAN opened at $15.08 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.26, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $14.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.97. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a 12-month low of $11.92 and a 12-month high of $18.45.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, April 17th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to buy up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

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

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.