Morgan Stanley Reiterates Overweight Rating for Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN)

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $16.00 price objective on the bank’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target suggests a potential upside of 17.39% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research report on Monday. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Huntington Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $15.17.

Huntington Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of HBAN opened at $13.63 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.76 billion, a PE ratio of 12.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Huntington Bancshares has a 1-year low of $9.13 and a 1-year high of $14.07. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $13.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.21.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.74 billion. Huntington Bancshares had a net margin of 15.86% and a return on equity of 11.99%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Huntington Bancshares will post 1.21 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Huntington Bancshares

In related news, Director Ann B. Crane sold 58,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.54, for a total transaction of $785,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 192,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,603,024.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Ann B. Crane sold 58,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.54, for a total transaction of $785,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 192,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,603,024.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Julie C. Tutkovics sold 15,541 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.68, for a total transaction of $197,059.88. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 303,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,847,809.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 102,241 shares of company stock valued at $1,360,359 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Huntington Bancshares

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Amalgamated Bank grew its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 413,836 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,773,000 after buying an additional 48,508 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 194.0% in the 1st quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 142,602 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,989,000 after buying an additional 94,100 shares during the period. Stablepoint Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $164,000. Strategic Blueprint LLC grew its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 35,450 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $495,000 after buying an additional 955 shares during the period. Finally, PFG Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $407,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.72% 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.