Raymond James Reiterates “Strong-Buy” Rating for Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN)

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN)‘s stock had its “strong-buy” rating reiterated by investment analysts at Raymond James in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $18.00 target price on the bank’s stock, down from their previous target price of $20.00. Raymond James’ price target would suggest a potential upside of 29.22% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $18.50 target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Huntington Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $18.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $18.50 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.39.

Huntington Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HBAN opened at $13.93 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.35 billion, a PE ratio of 11.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Huntington Bancshares has a twelve month low of $11.92 and a twelve month high of $18.45. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $14.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.00.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.03. Huntington Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 16.23%. The firm had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Huntington Bancshares will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Scott D. Kleinman sold 69,088 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.67, for a total transaction of $1,013,520.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 453,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,647,402.43. This represents a 13.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 38,451 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.38, for a total transaction of $552,925.38. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,825,036.44. This trade represents a 10.28 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 111,781 shares of company stock valued at $1,631,151. Insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Huntington Bancshares

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

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.