Benjamin Edwards Inc. Sells 5,782 Shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 61,911 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 5,782 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Huntington Bancshares were worth $1,007,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Huntington Bancshares by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 64,926,419 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,056,353,000 after purchasing an additional 2,218,020 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 52,599,986 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $855,802,000 after acquiring an additional 2,310,502 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 36.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 32,479,039 shares of the bank’s stock worth $528,434,000 after acquiring an additional 8,759,871 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Huntington Bancshares by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,825,092 shares of the bank’s stock worth $355,094,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506,606 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Huntington Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at $302,826,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on HBAN. Piper Sandler decreased their price target 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. Argus set a $17.00 target price on Huntington Bancshares in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Huntington Bancshares from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.45.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of HBAN stock opened at $15.22 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $14.35 and a 200-day moving average of $15.95. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a one year low of $11.92 and a one year high of $18.45. The stock has a market cap of $22.23 billion, a PE ratio of 12.37, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 (NASDAQ:HBAN) last released its quarterly 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 analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Huntington Bancshares Announces Dividend

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 issued a $0.155 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.07%. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.33%.

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

Insider Activity

In other Huntington Bancshares news, VP Brantley J. Standridge sold 70,417 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.69, for a total transaction of $964,008.73. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 326,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,469,182.64. The trade was a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Helga Houston sold 42,345 shares of Huntington Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.72, for a total value of $623,318.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 592,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,715,991.68. This represents a 6.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 312,456 shares of company stock worth $4,464,105 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

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.