Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $17.94.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Baird R W upgraded Huntington Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $18.50 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Huntington Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th.

Huntington Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HBAN opened at $12.60 on Friday. Huntington Bancshares has a 12 month low of $12.05 and a 12 month high of $18.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.24, a P/E/G 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. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $15.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.13.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.27 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Huntington Bancshares will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th were paid a $0.155 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.92%. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 38,451 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.38, for a total transaction of $552,925.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,538 shares in the company, valued at $4,825,036.44. This represents a 10.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Brendan A. Lawlor sold 3,521 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.25, for a total transaction of $53,695.25. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 47,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $731,237.50. This trade represents a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 111,781 shares of company stock worth $1,631,151 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC increased its position in Huntington Bancshares by 17,533.3% during the 4th quarter. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC now owns 1,587 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,578 shares during the period. Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its position in Huntington Bancshares by 126.8% during the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 1,830 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 1,023 shares during the last quarter. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Huntington Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC increased its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 70.0% in the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 3,061 shares of the bank’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 1,260 shares in the last quarter. 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.