Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Sunday.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on HBAN. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $18.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $18.00 to $18.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.76.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Up 0.6%

Huntington Bancshares stock opened at $15.94 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Huntington Bancshares has a 12-month low of $11.91 and a 12-month high of $18.44. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $17.07 and its 200 day moving average is $16.14. The company has a market capitalization of $23.25 billion, a PE ratio of 11.15, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.96.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, June 11th. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Huntington Bancshares had a net margin of 18.06% and a return on equity of 12.14%. The company had revenue of $469.00 million for the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Huntington Bancshares will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 18th will be issued a $0.155 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.36%.

Insider Activity at Huntington Bancshares

In other news, EVP Marcy C. Hingst sold 41,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.00, for a total value of $739,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 299,361 shares in the company, valued at $5,388,498. This represents a 12.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Huntington Bancshares

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HBAN. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Huntington Bancshares during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Huntington Bancshares during the first quarter valued at about $29,000. Quarry LP grew its position in Huntington Bancshares by 73.0% during the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,929 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 814 shares during the period. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Huntington Bancshares during the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.72% of the company’s stock.

Huntington Bancshares Company 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.